Modern Masters IX - Festival Edition

Welcome to our Modern Masters Festival Edition for 2019. This year sees Victoria Crowe’s career honoured in a major retrospective, 50 Years of Painting, which is now open at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh and runs until mid October; the exhibition is mounted over four floors, with every level revealing a different aspect and facet of the artist’s life and career. We open our exhibition catalogue with a special tribute to Victoria Crowe, an artist whom The Gallery is proud to have been associated with since 1970, and with a group of paintings which relate to the artist’s early years in Kittleyknowe, in the Scottish Borders.

Our Festival Edition also explores the studio life of two artists who were fellow artists and colleagues at Edinburgh College of Art and form part of the Edinburgh School of painting: Sir William Gillies and Sir William MacTaggart – we look at ‘the good habit’ and how the home environment and working studio were sources of inspiration. Guy Peploe has written an insightful essay on the subject of portraiture, an important aspect of Crowe’s practice and a key element within our Festival programme, exemplified by Derrick Guild’s masterful Ever After exhibition.

Finally, we present a collection of recent acquisitions which reflect, celebrate and remind us of our historical heritage in conjunction with our commitment to contemporary art. We hope you find something to cherish and enjoy from our Festival Edition and we look forward to seeing you in The Gallery.

Click here to purchase a fully illustrated catalogue accompanying this exhibition.

We will be holding two tours of the exhibition over the festival with Gallery Directors Tommy Zyw and Guy Peploe. These will take place on Saturday 3rd August at 11am and Saturday 17th August at 2pm. Click on your preferred day to RSVP for these free events.