The Modern Masters series was conceived ten years ago and has been a platform for bringing together artists, past and present, with an eye on rediscovery and changing perceptions. Our previous edition in August 2020 sparked a national debate when we confined the selection to a celebration of women artists. We open 2021 with our twelfth exhibition and again we believe it is important and valid to interrogate expectations and offer new insights. Here artists are exhibited individually and in the context of their peers, both close contemporaries and across the generations, side by side. Guy Peploe pays tribute to artist, writer and playwright John Byrne who turned 80 last year and we have created a Modern Masters Prints section with highlights from the era of The Vigorous Imagination alongside master printmakers and artists Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Victoria Crowe. We showcase work by William Baillie and William Gillies; Mary Armour and Anne Redpath; Alan Davie and William Johnstone. Artists with huge national reputations like Elizabeth Blackadder and Victoria Crowe and others who have been overlooked, like Donald Buyers and Brenda Mark.
We hope that in a spirit of optimism the powerful, complex messages contained in these works of art will inspire and excite and look forward to welcoming you back to the heart and home of Scottish art.
