ART & EXHIBITIONS LIST
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
Genial Company brings together a selection 0118th century portraits oi the leading intellectual and literary figures ot the day. Its immodest theme is ‘genius’ and the portraits include Walpole, Johnson, Garrick, Hume, Rousseau and Mrs Sherridan. This was the Age of Reason, when taste could be both quantified and taught and the pictures were painted to address an elite whose attitudes basically concurred.
As portraits they tlatter ratherthan enquire, and psychological perception is not of great importance. Their concern is with the role of the sitter (as philosopher, actor, poet etc) rather than with the individual. Francis Hayman for example paints himsell as loppishly and fashionably dressed, adopting a pose of ‘studied carelessness', while Kneller's portrait of Pope shows him ivy-crowned and framed by a classical medallion.
Nearly all the pictures are head and shoulder portraits or hall lengths, with the ligure emerging from a dark background into light, often in a pyramidal lormat. It is the manner of the Italian Renaissance, knowledge at which was considered not only a matter at pride but necessity it one was to paint well. Reynolds’ portrait of Mrs Siddons shows her seated with with the stature and presence of a Michaelangelo prophet, and he llatters Laurence Sterne with a gesture well-known lrom Leonardo da Vinci‘s
Simply Women Mon l6—Sat 28 March. Photographs by Franki Raffles ofthe XIII Commonwealth Games. 0 DANISH CULTURAL INSTITUTE 3 Dounce Terrace, 225 7189. Mon—Fri 9am—5pm. Lino-Cuts by Dea Trier Morch Until Fri 13 March. The relationships between men and women are illustrated by this best-selling novelist. ‘Winter‘s Child‘ was recently published in this country.
0 RICHARD DEMARCO GALLERY Blackfriars Church. Blackfriars Street (off High Street), 557 0707. Auction Thurs 5 March. 6pm. The Washington Gallery will be hosting one of three fund-raising auctions in aid of the new Demarco Gallery at Blackfriars. The final auction will be held in London at the Smith‘s Gallery on 21 March following a seven day exhibition there celebrating the gallery’s 2lst anniversary.
Igor Stepancic Until Sat 7 March. Cathedrals Work by a Yugoslavian artist.
John Taylochd 11 March—Sat4 April. View From the Bunker ‘These paintings. larger than usual for watercolours. are beautiful in anyone‘s sense. but they are also disquieting.‘ CO.
0 EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART Lauriston Place, 229 9311. Mon—Thurs 10am—8pm; Fri 10am—5pm; Sat 10am-noon.
Works on Paper Until Sat 7 March.
GENIAL COMPANY
StJohn the Baptist.
Hogarth agreed with the value of the Italian intluence and used it very capany lor compositions, seen in his line portrait ol Garrick and his Wile (see photo). He lelt however that
The teaching staffat the faculty of Fine Art, Belgrade, show their work in Scotland. In Sculpture Court Gallery.
Evening Class Show Mon 9—Sat 14 March. An exhibition by students of the college‘s highly popular evening classes.
0 EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY LIBRARY George Square. 667 1011. Mon—Fri 9am—5pm.
Decorated Papers from the Schmoller Collection Mon 9 March—Fri 1 May. 0 ENGLISH SPEAKING UNION 22 Atholl Cresent. 229 1528. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Tue 10am—noon. Scotland - Landscape Exhibition Mon 9—Sat 21 March. Jim Nicholson. Douglas Phillips. Gordon Wylie and John Busby show Scottish landscapes in a group exhibition.
0 FINE ART SOCIETY 12 Great King Street, 556 0305. Mon—Fri 9.30am—5.30pm. Sat 10am—1pm. Scottish Paintings 1800—1920 General exhibition throughout March.
0 FLYING COLOURS 35 William Street. 225 6776. Tue—Fri 11am—6pm, Sat 10am—1pm. Contemporary Scottish paintings.
0 FORREST McKAY 38 Howe Street. 226 2589. Mon—Fri l0am—6pm. Sat 10am—1pm.
General exhibition — Scottish painting from 1800 onwards.
0 FRENCH INSTITUTE 13 Randolph Crescent, 225 5366. Mon—Fri 9.303m—1pm. 2—5.30pm.
Communication Tomorrow Until Sat 4 April. Poster exhibition about the
literature and the arts were ignoring the everyday lite they should take as their subject and the exhibition includes several pleasing engravings ot the anecodatal scenes tor which he is famous. (Sally Kinnes).
French telecommunications industry.
Claude Leveque Mon 23 March—1 May.
Gallery closed 6—19 April).
0 FRUITMARKET GALLERY 29 Market Street. 225 2383. Tue—Sat 10am—5.30pm. Closed Sun & Mon. Licensed cafe’.
Gwen Hardie — Paintings and Drawings Sat 14 March—Wed 25 April. Hardi e is a Scottish artist living in Berlin. She uses the female body to convey large. impressive images. In the past year her work has changed considerably and she now paints more linear. symbolic figures, with her fingers. See feature. .
A. R. Penck—The Northern Darkness Sat 14 March—Wed 25 April. Penck has been neatly programmed with Hardie. He is a German artist living and working in Britain. Originally from Dresden in East Berlin. he left East Germany in 1980 and since been turning his interests to sculpture. This exhibition brings together a large group of Penck‘s bronze sculptures and two series of drawings. This exhibition will not be a static one however. Penck intends to make a large scale painting in the gallery itself, for all to see and observe in its creation. It‘s a bold move which will be worth keeping an eye on.
Talk Fri 27 March at 6.30pm. John Willett. historian and author will talk on ‘Berlin as a Modern Metropolis‘. TalkFri 3 April at 6.30pm. Richard
Calvocoressi. the new Keeper of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, will talk on ‘From East To West — German Art Since The Sixties’. Guided Tours Sat 21 March and Sat 18 April at 2.30pm. Short introductory tour to the exhibitions lasting approx 30mins.
O GALLERY OF MODERN ART Belford Road, 556 8921. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm. Sun 2—5pm. Rest. [D] Guided Tours On the first Wednesday ofevery month, at 2.30pm (free) a member ofthe curatorial staffwill lead a tour of the gallery (approx three quarters of an hour). Questions and discussions will be invned.
The next exhibition to open at the GMA will be the Scottish Arts Council‘s touring show ‘The Unpainted Landscape’. currently on at the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness. Orkney.
O GATEWAY EXCHANGE 2-4 Abbeymount, 661 0982. Mon—Sat lOam—Spm.
Perception I Think Until Sat 21 March. Paintings by Andrew McClintock. This is McClintock‘s first one-man show. Taking up painting two years ago. he has discovered the need to move away from traditional landscapes towards a more abstract style. A civil servant and an untrained artist, painting has become something more than a hobby.
O HANOVER FINE ART 104 Hanover Street. 225 2450. Mon—Fri 10am—5.30pm; Sat 10am—lpm. Mixed Exhibition Mon 9—Rue 31 March. Flowers, Wildlife and Landscape by a number of artists including Kenneth Annand. Brian Clarkson, Bernie O’Donnell. Ceramics by Ken and Helen Southall.
0 HM GENERAL REGISTER HOUSE Princes Street. 556 6585. Mon—Fri 10am—4pm.
Scotland and the Netherlands Until end March.
0 MERCURY GALLERY 2/3 North Bank Street, 225 3200. Mon—Fri 10am—5.30pm, Sat 10am—l .00pm. In the Mogul Style Until Sat 7 March. A carved door and wooden shutters from Rajasthan become expensive ornaments in the exhibition of artefacts from the lands ofthe Moguls. Coloured silks and a selection ofsilver and amber jewellery complete this small selection.
Rob Maclaurin Thurs 12 March—Sat 11 April. An Edinburgh College of Art graduate of 1984, Maclaurin has his first one-man show at the Mercury which will feature work done on a year‘s visit to Turkey.
0 NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND The Mound. 556 8921. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm. Sun 2—5pm.
Alexander Carse Until Sun 29 March. Football matches, ale-house punch-ups and wedding dances are amongst the repertoire ofthis little known artist who delighted in depicting the genre scenes of the late 18th and 19th century Lothians. The exhibition is intended to be the first in series devoted to lesser Scottish artists who deserve to be better known.
36 The List 6— 19 March