ART & EXHIBITIONS LIST
LIGHT EXPOSURE
Al the heart of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s summer exhibition ‘Printed Light’ (continuing until 26th October supported by a full lecture programme), lies a tiny piece of heated paper on which is represented a latticed window in a country house. It is like a magic charm: beautiful, exciting, it looks as if it might bring luck. it is the first photographic negative - the small beginning of a new pmcess, a new art form. The latticed window is in Lacock Abbey, the Wiltshire home of William Henry Fox Talbot who invented the world’s first negative and positive photography and it is to him and to D. 0. Hill and Robert Adamson who between 1843 and 1847 took what must be the most beautiful photographs of Edinburgh, that this exhibition is devoted.
The work as a whole is titled ‘Scientiiic Art' and the exhibition, organised in an imaginative co- operation between the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Science Museum, perfectly captures both the thrill and exhilaration of scientific discovery and the magical, tairyland qualities of the first photographs. Astonishineg sensitive pictures of trees, leaves, buildings, not to mention people, lie alongside the machines which enabledtheir creation. There is even a working camera obscura (the aid to drawing which preceeded the first cameras) thmugh which visitors can experience Talbot’s own first encounters with light and shade via a machine for themselves Looking thmugh the camera obscura, one is conscious of Talbot's own words. These are ‘iairy pictures, creations of a moment and destined as rapidly to fade away .... .. the idea occured to me..... how charming it would be if it were possible to cause the natural images to imprint themselves durably, and remain fixed on paperl’ The results of Talbot’s
own distinctive porcelain-style paste. which he also used to make reproduction gems and cameos. So highly regarded was he during his time, that Catherine the Great ordered a complete set of 12,000 of his gems to be delivered to Russia. More on the Enlightenment can be seen across the road in the ‘Hotbed of Genius’ exhibition at the Royal Museum.
0 PRINCES STREET GARDENS Fringe Venue 132.
South Africa Information Bus Sun 10—Fri 22 Aug. An independent group has set up this exhibition of material relating to apartheid. B-low the Balloon! Fri 15—Sat 24 Aug. In West Princes Street Gardens’ Tent. Over 50 exhibiting designers and craftworkers, bringing you the best in Scottish contemporary design.
0 PRINTMAKERS' WORKSHOP GALLERY 23 Union Street, 557 2479. Mon-Sat 10am—6pm.
John Bellany— Etchings and Monoprints1966-1986 Sat 9 Aug—6 Sept. Ian Botham‘s portrait plus monoprints made at the workshop this year. See Gallery of Modern
experimentation are indeed charming. We follow his work from the first leaf and flower prints, to his remarkable portraits, his disarmineg excellent and humane pictures of children. in one, the children all hide their faces in vast cotton bonnets, unable to look into the light for the length oi time required for adequate exposure. A remark by a neighbour about to be photographed on the terrace is chronicled: ‘I am to be photogenisedl’
The work oi all three photographers is complemented by lucid and fascinating video presentations Alongside the photographs, which express such joy and such warmth, there is the sad story that Talbot, a perfectionist who did not reveal his discoveries to the world until they were finished, was plpped to the post in claiming the honour of having discovered photography. The French daguerrotype was announced first, in 1839. Talbot was thus, in some ways, an unhappy man.
The exhibition celebrates the ideal of a harmony between art and science. In this, it harks back to the Renaissance when masters like Leonardo da Vinci made science into an art-ionn and approached art with the discipline and clarity of scientific research.
(snan Evans).
Art, Assembly Rooms and Traverse for other Bellany exhibitions. Special Courses Screen Printing and Lithography Basic Course 23 and 24 Aug and 27 and 28 Sept. Advanced course 25, 26 Oct. Etching Basic Course 16 and 17 Aug and 20, 21 Sept. Advanced Course 4 and 5 Oct. All courses last the whole weekend and cost £25 (£20 members, OAP, U840 and Student). Life drawing class begins 4 Sept and runs to 11 Dec. Classes every Thurs 7—9pm. £10 for fifteen classes in advance or £2 each. Bring your own drawing board.
0 OUEEN'S HALL Clerk Street, 668 3456.
Contemporary Edinburgh Artists Until Sat 9 Aug.
Mel Calman Cartoons Mon 11—Sat 30 Aug.
Display of early musical scores and 20th century Scottish music throughout Festival.
0 REID CONCERT HALL Bristo Square The Historic Clarinet Sat 9LSat 30 Aug. Edinburgh International Festival.
0 RIAS GALLERY 15 Rutland Square, 229 7205. Fringe Venue 155. Mon—Fri 9.30am—5pm.
Sports Buildings Until Fri 15 Aug. The 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh marked the beginning of a national modernisation and building programme of sports facilities all over Scotland. Drawings, plans and photos will illustrate the achievements of those 16 years, from the Royal Commonwealth Pool, to the Kelvinhall Project in Glasgow which, when it is completed next year, will provide Scotland with its first indoor athletics track.
William Playialr-Archltect to the Modern Athens Thurs 7-Fri 29 Aug. 0 ROYAL DOTANIC GARDENS Inverleith House. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm, Sun 11am—5pm. The beautiful Georgian house, once home of the Gallery of Modern Art re-opens this summer with three exhibitions, all related to gardening and botany. Tue 12 Aug-Fri 31 Oct. Gardens in Focus Photographs by
Due to re-rooiing work in the main hall, the museum will be temporarily closed to the public until Mon 6 Oct. , apart from the tearoom, information desk, lecture theatre and an exhibition of photo—journalism entitled Enterprising Shots (12 Aug-20 Sept). Access is from the Lothian Street entrance at the rear of the building.
The Enterprising Scot The museum special summer exhibition opens on 8 August running to 5 October and will be mounted in the Royal Scottish Academy on Princes Street. 0 ROYAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND Queen Street, 556 8921. Mon—Sat 10am-5pm. Sun 2—5pm.
Hotbed of Genius Until Sat 20 Sept. Edinburgh International Festival. Across the road in the museum‘s other premises, the Scottish Enlightenment is celebrated in a two-part exhibition. Downstairs ultra-violet light and very trendy
Heather Angel. headphones create an atmosphere The “gnaw; Watgmolourg By which attempts to illuminate the Margaret Stones. pCTIOd for the present day. Upstairs John "09917254185 The all the facts in a traditional layout
with portraits, caricatures, the tools of the intellectual trades of the time, lots of books and lots of labels. It’s a pity there had not been more cross-referencing with present-day thought
0 ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY The Mound, 225 6671.
The Enterprising Scot Sat 9 August - Sun 5 Oct. Edinburgh International Festival. The collection (or at least a proportion of it) from the Royal Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, moves down to the centre of
Enlightenment of Scottish Botany. 0 ROYAL FINE ART COMMISSION 9 Atholl Crescent, 229 1109. Fringe Venue 124. Daily loam—4pm. Exhibition of Architecture Sat 9—Sun 31 Aug. What do you think of some of the latest developments in Scotland? What price must the architect pay in the clutches of commerce? The Commission illustrate their views. See if they match your own.
0 ROYAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND Chambers Street, 225 7534. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm. Sun 2—5pm.
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The List 8 — 21 August 49