Still Life and Peony, 1977

Dame Elizabeth Blackadder (1931–2021) stands as one of the most important figures in modern Scottish art. Born in Falkirk, she studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1949–1954 under influential teachers including William Gillies and Robert Henderson Blyth, graduating into what would become one of the most remarkable artistic careers of the twentieth century. Early travelling scholarships to southern Europe and Italy introduced Blackadder to the light, architecture and visual cultures that would profoundly shape her work for decades to come.