In February we had a most inspiring lecture by Alice Strang, Senior Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and curator of the current exhibition, Modern Scottish Women: Painters and Sculptors, 1885 – 1965, at Modern Two in Edinburgh. https://www.nationalgalleries.org/modernartgalleries
In her lecture Alice Strang not only introduced us to some well known women artists but to many whose work richly deserved to be more widely recognized.
The difficulties the women faced, first in accessing training and then because of their gender, in practicing art, provided an interesting insight to the social conditions of the period.
We looked at their work in an entirely different light.
Just a week after the lecture a group of Friends visited Modern Two at the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art where the exhibition is being shown.
We were ably led by Margaret Anderson, whose knowledgeable commentary on the coach through to Edinburgh, actually made the M8 seem quite interesting!
At Modern Two, we were divided into two groups for a guided tour of the exhibition
With Alice’s lecture still fresh in our minds we enjoyed the opportunity to see the paintings and sculpture “in the flesh”.
I was struck by how few of the works were landscapes – dictated in most cases by the artists’ domestic circumstances – with only the unmarried Joan Eardley and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham producing any body of work in this category.
A highlight of the show, among all the portraits, figure studies and still lives was Glasgow’s own “A Girl of the Sixties c. 1900” by Bessie MacNicol.
All in all it was a most enjoyable and enlightening trip.
E. M. Dent
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| Bessie McNicol: A Girl of the Sixties ©CSG CIC Glasgow Museums Collection |
