Eye of the Storm, a Portrait of James Morrison, by Anthony Baxter
29 Apr 2021
Anthony Baxter's epic film 'Eye of the Storm' was broadcast over the Easter Weekend by the BBC and generated an astonishing outpouring of love and interest the Scottish Landscape painter James Morrison (1932-2020). We are continuing to receive feedback every day from gallery friends near and far and those who have just been touched by the sensitive portrayal of the artist's life. Please read our Media blog below which includes details of a forthcoming book and exhibitions. If you have still not seen the film, then find out more here.
We have now sold out of almost all of our catalogues from previous exhibitions, but you are welcome to browse digital versions at your leisure and you can follow the links below. We are looking forward to hosting a small tribute in September 2021 in advance of his Memorial Exhibition in June 2022.
view From Angus to the Arctic here
To celebrate the life and work of James Morrison and the release of Eye of the Storm, The Gallery has created a specially curated capsule exhibition A Room with a View, which includes superb and insightful audio by Guy Peploe. You can take a virtual tour of the exhibition here.
We will be hosting a small tribute exhibition in September 2021, A Studio Practice through the Decades - the life and work of James Morrison. This is a small, dedicated exhibition to serve as a taster before the Memorial exhibition which will cover the two floors of the gallery in June 2022 and will include the launch of a new book. The new hard back publication will be produced in conjunction with The Scottish Gallery and John Morrison to accompany the June exhibition. Please contact us if you would like to receive updates about these upcoming exhibitions or if you would like to be added to the book launch list.
View the work of James Morrison here and please enjoy our media response blog below.
The Media Response
Now interest in stunning artworks by the late Scottish landscape painter James Morrison has soared after a remarkable film on his life captured the hearts of tens of thousands of art lovers around the UK.
The response was phenomenal... There has been as overwhelming outpouring of emotional responses from all over the UK. It has been quite staggering. There were thousands of responses, all at once, from people who had connected with this artist or were touched by his life story.
Christina Jansen
James Morrison was a subject of discussion in January both in The Scotsman and on BBC News Reporting Scotland, before the premiere of Eye of The Storm, a new documentary film by Anthony Baxter. The film combines footage filmed of the artist over a two year period from 2018 with animation by Catriona Black, to examine how James Morrison documented the impact of climate change in the Arctic over several trips, and recalls his personal fascination with the landscape of Scotland. You can read The Scotsman article here or click on the image below.
He kept a very good diary of his trips to the Arctic and could recount them very well. The landscapes that he painted there don’t exist in the form that they did when he painted them. He was essentially a documentarian of the landscape. He was meticulous.
I felt his work had a really important significance now, when there is so much interest in the Arctic and the melting ice cap. He was out there painting these landscapes because he knew they were threatened or disappearing. He was very much ahead of the time.
Anthony Baxter on James Morrison
You can view the BBC News Reporting Scotland clip featuring the upcoming premiere of Eye of The Storm below.
The Glasgow Film Festival (24 February - 7 March) will be presented in an online format this year, on their newly developed streaming platform Glasgow Film at Home. After creating an account you can purchase a ticket to stream Eye of the Storm here. Click here to view the full programme of The Glasgow Film Festival 2021.
He would never become a cultural icon, but that was never his goal. Instead, he turned to nature and paid attention to all her aspects: the scudding clouds, the swaying barley, the gnarled hedgerows, the glassy water and the distant hills; these would be his interlocutors in a discourse that nourished his entire career.
Philip Braham on James Morrison, From Angus to the Arctic, 2020
James Morrison's Memorial Exhibition will be held at The Scottish Gallery in 2022.
You can view available work by James Morrison here.