National Galleries of Scotland Public Programme 2010

NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND
PUBLIC PROGRAMME 2010
 
Please find below our programme of exhibitions and displays for the coming months.


 
NOTES: Current as of May 2010 
 
General opening hours:       
National Gallery of Scotland Complex
Monday–Sunday                    10am–5pm
                                                            Except Thursday                    10am–7pm
 
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and Dean Gallery
                                                            Monday–Sunday                    10am–5pm

 

 
 
SPECIAL PROJECTS
 
 
PORTRAIT OF THE NATION
 
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, home to the collection of Scottish portraits and the National Photography Collection, is now closed while it undergoes a major refurbishment. This outstanding Grade A building, at the heart of the New Town on Queen Street in Edinburgh, was designed by architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson to be a celebration of the people of Scotland. Portrait of the Nation will restore this ideal, breathing new life in to its galleries whilst creating much needed new facilities. The collection will be presented in a reinvigorated and more engaging way, illustrating the richness of Scotland’s history and culture with a dynamic and extensive exhibition programme with a new emphasis on photography and Scottish art. The regularly changing exhibitions and increased number of works on display will ensure that there will always be something new to see.
 
To find out more about Portrait of the Nation visit: http://www.nationalgalleries.org/portraitofthenation
 
SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART 50th ANNIVERSARY
 
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art was the first Gallery in Britain dedicated to collecting modern and contemporary art for the nation. Fifty years on from this pioneering beginning, the Gallery still strives to build on its international reputation through its collection and creative programming.
 
Throughout 2010 the Gallery will undergo a series of re-hangs to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Titled What you see is where you’re at the displays will change to reveal the richness and range of the collection in a series of rooms which aim to delight and surprise.
 
 
ANTONY GORMLEY
6 TIMES
From the 22 June 2010
 
Work has begun in Edinburgh on an extraordinary multi-part sculptural project by the celebrated British artist Antony Gormley.   Commissioned by the National Galleries of Scotland, 6 Times will consist of six life-sized figures positioned between the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the sea. Four of the figures will be sited in the Water of Leith itself, acting as gauges for the height of the river as it swells and recedes. The figure closest to the sea, at Leith Docks, is now in place and installation of the further figures will take place throughout June. 
 
This will be the first time that a work in the National Galleries’ collection has been permanently located across the city of Edinburgh itself. 6 Times has been commissioned with the support of The Art Fund, The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, The Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland, Claire Enders and The Henry Moore Foundation.
 
 
RICHARD WRIGHT
THE STAIRWELL PROJECT
From the 29 July 2010
Admission free
 
The National Galleries of Scotland will soon be home to a major new commission by 2009 Turner Prize-winner Richard Wright. The Stairwell Project sees the internationally acclaimed, Glasgow-based artist make wall-drawings in the stairwell of the Dean Gallery. Made possible by the Scottish Government's Expo Fund, The Stairwell Project will be Wright's largest artwork to date, and will be completed for 29 July, the opening of the 2010 Edinburgh Art Festival.
 
 
ARTIST ROOMS
 
ARTIST ROOMS is a new collection of modern and contemporary art held by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the nation. The collection, which comprises more than 730 works, was assembled by Anthony d’Offay, whose London galleries played a key role in the promotion and understanding of twentieth-century art in the UK over a period of more than 30 years. ARTIST ROOMS was established through The d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments. The guiding principle for the creation of this national resource was the concept of individual rooms devoted to particular artists. ARTIST ROOMS is being shared with museums and galleries throughout the UK thanks to the support of independent charity The Art Fund, and within Scotland, the Scottish Government. This year’s ARTIST ROOMS displays include Diane Arbus, Ian Hamilton-Finlay, Robert Therrien and Gilbert & George. For full details please see below.

 

 
 
EXHIBITIONS
 
 
STRANGE ENCOUNTERS: DAVIES, GORDON, BOYCE, COLQUHOUN
27 February – 27 June 2010
DEAN GALLERY, Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3DS
Admission free
 
For centuries, masks have been used to hide identities or create new ones. This display brings together four works by John Davies, Douglas Gordon, Martin Boyce and Robert Colquhoun. Surreal and surprising, they all use the enigmatic appeal of the mask to tell stories which the beholder has to unveil.
 
 
WRITING AND ILLUSTRATING FOR CHILDREN
JAMES MAYHEW AND CATHERINE RAYNER
8 March - 4 June 2010
NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLEX, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
Admission free
 
The National Galleries of Scotland presents award-winning work by children’s authors and illustrators Catherine Rayner and James Mayhew in an exhibition of their work. James Mayhew, famous for his Katie and Ella Bella books, and Catherine Rayner, creator of Augustus the Tiger and Harris Finds have also beautifully illustrated two new, exciting trails for children and families to enjoy around the National Gallery Complex. The trails are free to collect in the Gallery.
 
 
ARTIST ROOMS: DIANE ARBUS
ON TOUR WITH THE ART FUND SUPPORTED BY THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT
13 March – 13 June 2010
DEAN GALLERY, Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3DS
Admission free
 
ARTIST ROOMS includes one of the most important collections of work by the legendary New York photographer Diane Arbus in the world.  It is the first public collection in the UK to hold Arbus’s work and offers audiences nationwide the opportunity of exploring her powerful and moving images at first-hand. The top floor of the Dean Gallery at the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh will feature some seventy black and white photographs by Arbus, including the rare and important portfolio of ten vintage prints: Box of Ten, 1971.
 
 
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHERE YOU’RE AT
Part 2 from the 27 March 2010
SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART,
75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR
Admission free
 
This spring will see the opening of the second major wave of What you see is where you’re at, a programme of dynamic changing displays that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.   New rooms will include the first Scottish showing of a key piece by Ian Hamilton Finlay from the ARTIST ROOMS collection, new work by Callum Innes, a showcase for emerging talent from Scotland, and a fresh look at the Scottish Colourists. These eight new displays form part of the innovative re-hang launched in November 2009, and will join works already on show, including specially commissioned outdoor pieces by Nathan Coley and Martin Creed, a spectacular installation by Douglas Gordon, and works from Henri Matisse to Dan Flavin.
 
 
CONFRONTATION: CRANACH AND DIX
16 April – 18 July 2010
NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLEX, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
Admission free
 
This display is the first ‘Confrontation’, a new series bringing together old masters and modern art from the National Galleries of Scotland. Lucas Cranach, a highly prolific court painter and contemporary of the great Northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, and Otto Dix, a twentieth-century German artist associated with the ‘Neue Sachlichkeit’ (‘New Objectivity’), make a fitting juxtaposition. Their paintings even depict the same subject, a female nude. Dix was greatly inspired by German old masters and imitated their painting technique. Confronting the two masterpieces presents an exciting opportunity to compare artworks separated by more than 400 years and to discover striking similarities and transformations.
 
 
DANCE
24 April – 6 June 2010
NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLEX, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
Admission free
 
This vibrant exhibition will explore the fascinating theme of Dance through some of the most famous artworks in the national collection. Dance will bring together fourteen works made in different periods, styles and media, selected from both the National Gallery of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, as well as the ARTIST ROOMS collection.  This refreshingly different approach allows the visitor to discover the richness of a subject which has inspired artists since ancient times.
 
 
IAN HAMILTON FINLAY: COLLABRATORS AND COLLABORATIONS
25 April – 13 June 2010
DEAN GALLERY, Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3 DS
Admission free
 
Since holding its first solo show by Ian Hamilton Finlay in 1972, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has amassed a large collection of the artist’s work. The most recent acquisition is the archive of Pamela Campion, Finlay’s sole collaborator in the making of embroideries. This complete documentation of every aspect of their collaboration from 1972 to 2000 includes written instructions, sketches and test pieces. The purchase has been made possible by the generous assistance of a private donor and the Iain Paul Fund. Related material donated to the Gallery’s archive by Sue Finlay, Alan Swerdlow and Jeremy Greenwood and by the estate of the late David Brown will also be shown. Such correspondence, photographs, working notes and printed ephemera provide a unique insight into the artist’s working methods and his interaction with various collaborators.
 
 
THE GLASGOW BOYS: DRAWING INSPIRATION
29 May – 5 September 2010
NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLEX, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
Admission free
 
The Glasgow Boys were a loose-knit group of avant-garde artists who were inspired by scenes of rural life made by continental painters at the end of the nineteenth century. Their most innovative and appealing works were made between 1880 and 1895. Drawing Inspiration offers an intimate insight into their working methods and friendships, as well as a look at some of the artists who inspired them. The show features over 30 drawings from the Gallery’s permanent collection and coincides with the landmark Glasgow Boys exhibition which opened on 9 April at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow.
 
 
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
BUT WE HAVE THE MUSIC BY SHANTI MASUD
12 June – 18 July 2010
SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART, 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR
Admission free
 
French director Shanti Masud’s experimental film But We Have The Music presents a series of portraits of people listening and responding to music. Filmed in black–and-white Super 8, the film features a varied soundtrack including music by Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake and The Beach Boys. The film is organised in conjunction with the Edinburgh International Film Festival. For more details of this year’s festival (16 – 27 June), visit www.edfilmfest.org.uk
 
 
CHRISTEN KØBKE: DANISH MASTER OF LIGHT
4 July – 3 October 2010
NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLEX, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
Admission £7 (£5 concessions)
 
This is the first exhibition devoted to paintings by Christen Købke (1810–1848) ever to be shown outside Denmark. Købke was a pre-eminent painter in his country and arguably one of the greatest talents of Denmark’s Golden Age. With the exception of one journey to Italy, he spent his entire life in and around the Citadel in Copenhagen, where he found the principal themes of his art. The exhibition features around 40 of Købke’s most celebrated works, spanning a variety of genres, and includes landscapes, portraits of many of his family and closest friends and charmingly oblique depictions of Danish national monuments.
 
Giving an overview of Købke’s achievement within its cultural context, the exhibition emphasises his exquisite originality and experimental outlook while focusing on the most innovative aspects of his work – including outdoor sketching, his fascination with painterly immediacy and treatment of light and atmosphere. Købke’s work demonstrates his ability to endow ordinary people and places and simple motifs with a universal significance, creating a world in microcosm for the viewer.
 
This exhibition is organised with the National Gallery in London, where it will be on show from the 17 March to the 13 June 2010.
 
 
ANOTHER WORLD 
DALÍ, MAGRITTE, MIRÓ AND THE SURREALISTS 
10 July 2010 - 9 January 2011
DEAN GALLERY, 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS
Admission £7 (£5 concessions)
 
This comprehensive survey of Surrealist art, which will bring together masterpieces by Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miró, will be the major summer exhibition at the Dean Gallery in 2010.  Another World, which will also form the centrepiece of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s 50th anniversary celebrations, will offer a fascinating overview of arguably the most important art movement of the twentieth century. The exhibition will include major loans from public and private collections and will offer visitors the chance to see the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s world-famous collection of Surrealist art in its entirety for the first time.
 
 
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHERE YOU’RE AT
Part 3 from 31 July
SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART, 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR
Admission free
 
This is the third major wave of displays celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. The fourteen new displays feature masterpieces from the Gallery’s world-famous collection as well as major new works and commissions by international contemporary artists.
 
Highlights of the third phase of What you see is where you’re at include fifty proposals for actions created by Peter Liversidge which will be shown over fifty days. From the ARTIST ROOMS collection, there are spectacular large-scale sculptures by the American artist Robert Therrien, including a major new work, and multi-part works by Gilbert & George. A hypnotically beautiful film by Irish artist John Gerrard is complemented by the celebrated film by Breda Beban, The Most Beautiful Woman in Gucha. The Gallery will also be showing major new work by Boyle Family and Moyna Flannigan.  Leading Scottish artist, Elizabeth Blackadder, and the Gallery’s former director, Richard Calvocoressi, have made selections from the permanent collection. Other displays include Russian Abstraction, Super-Realism and Scottish Modernism.
 
The new displays will be installed on a rolling basis from the end of May and will all be open by 31 July, making repeat visits essential.
 
 
IMPRESSIONIST GARDENS
31 July - 17 October 2010
NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLEX, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
Admission £10 (£7 concessions)
 
The highlight of the 2010 summer season at the National Gallery Complex will be a ground-breaking exhibition on the subject of paintings of Impressionist Gardens.  This major international exhibition of around 100 works will include spectacular loans from collections around the world, and will be the first ever to be devoted to this fascinating subject.  The famous names of Impressionism will be well represented, with fine examples by Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Manet and Sisley.  In addition, the exhibition will examine the continued significance of the Impressionist garden to the generation of artists working immediately after the Impressionists, such as Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and Pierre Bonnard.  Lenders to Impressionist Gardens, which has been organised in partnership with the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, will include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; the Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen; Tate, London; and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome.  This will be the only UK showing.
 
 
THE YOUNG VERMEER
10 December 2010 – 13 March 2011
NATIONAL GALLERY COMPLEX, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
Admission free
 
Three paintings from Johannes Vermeer’s early career will be reunited for the very first time in a display at the National Galleries of Scotland in December 2010. Whilst Johannes Vermeer’s (1632-75) later work concentrates on domestic interiors, his early paintings seem to have focused primarily on traditional subjects derived from the Bible and classical mythology. The Young Vermeer will show three paintings created between 1653 and 1656: The National Galleries of Scotland’s Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (c.1654-55); The Procuress (1656) from Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden; and Diana and her Companions (c.1653-54) from Mauritshuis, the Royal Picture Gallery in The Hague. This display will present a unique opportunity to compare directly these three works and discover more about the development of this celebrated artist.

 
 
For general enquiries please call 0131 6246 6200
 
Information may also be found on our website:
www.nationalgalleries.org
 
 

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