Art in modern Scotland includes all aspects of the visual arts in the country since the beginning of the twentieth century. In the early twentieth century, the art scene was dominated by the work of the members of the Glasgow School known as the Four, led by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who gained an international reputation for their combination of Celtic revival, Art and Crafts and Art Nouveau. They were followed by the Scottish Colourists and the Edinburgh School. There was a growing interest in forms of Modernism, with William Johnstone helping to develop the concept of a Scottish Renaissance. In the post-war period, major artists, including John Bellany and Alexander Moffat, pursued a strand of "Scottish realism". Moffat's influence can be seen in the work of the "new Glasgow Boys" from the late twentieth century. In the twenty-first century Scotland has continued to produce influential artists such as Douglas Gordon and Susan Philipsz.
Scotland possess significant collections of art, like the National Gallery of Scotland and National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and the Burrell Collection and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Prominent schools of art include the Edinburgh College of Art and the Glasgow School of Art. The major funding body with responsibility for the arts in the country is Creative Scotland. Support is also provided by local councils and independent foundations.
Early twentieth century
Glasgow School
For the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, developments in Scottish art are associated with the Glasgow School, a term that is used for a number of loose groups based around the city. The most important grouping, active from about 1890 and known as "The Four" or the "Spook School", was composed of acclaimed architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928), his wife the painter and glass artist Margaret MacDonald (1865–1933), her sister the artist Frances (1873–1921), and her husband, the artist and teacher Herbert MacNair (1868–1955). They produced a distinctive blend of influences, including the Celtic Revival, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and Japonisme, which found favour throughout the modern art world of continental Europe and helped define the Art Nouveau style.S. Tschudi-Madsen, The Art Nouveau Style: a Comprehensive Guide (Mineola, NY: Courier Dover, 2002), , pp. 283–4.
Scottish Colourists
The first significant group of Scottish artists to emerge in the twentieth century were the Scottish Colourists in the 1920s. The name was retrospectively given to John Duncan Fergusson (1874–1961), Francis Cadell (1883–1937), Samuel Peploe (1871–1935) and Leslie Hunter (1877–1931). They knew each other and exhibited together, but did not form a cohesive group. All had spent time in France between 1900 and 1914I. Chilvers, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2009), , p. 575. and looked for inspiration to Paris, particularly to the Fauvists, such as Monet, Matisse and Cézanne, whose techniques they combined with the painting traditions of Scotland. They have been described as the first Scottish modern artists and were the major mechanism by which post-impressionism reached Scotland. Fergusson in particular would later be a major influence on bringing modernism to Scottish art.
Edinburgh School
The group of artists connected with Edinburgh, most of whom had studied at Edinburgh College of Art during or soon after the First World War, became known as the Edinburgh School,"The Edinburgh School" , Edinburgh Museums and Galleries, retrieved 10 April 2013 many of whom belonged to the informal 1922 Group. They were influenced by French painters and the St. Ives School.D. Macmillan, "Culture: modern times 1914–: art", in M. Lynch, ed., Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), , pp. 153–4. Their art was characterised by use of vivid and often non-naturalistic colour and the use of bold technique above form. Members included William Gillies (1898–1973), who focused on landscapes and still life, John Maxwell (1905–62) who created both landscapes and studies of imaginative subjects, William Geissler (1894–1963), watercolourist of landscapes in Perthshire, East Lothian and Hampshire,The Life and Art of William Geissler (1894-1963): Norman Shaw, MPhil Thesis, Edinburgh College of Art, 1994The Art of William Geissler 1894-1963, Poetry of Place, Author: Alistair (Introduction) Rowan, Publisher: Edinburgh College of Art, 1996 William Crozier (1893–1930), whose landscapes were created with glowing colours, William MacTaggart (1903–81), noted for his landscapes of East Lothian, France and Norway and Anne Redpath (1895–1965), best known for her two dimensional depictions of everyday objects.
Modernism and the Scottish Renaissance
The philosopher, sociologist, town planner and writer Patrick Geddes (1854–1932) coined the phrase Scottish Renaissance in his magazine Evergreen. He argued that technological development needed to be in parallel with the arts. These ideas were taken up by a new generation, led by the poet Hugh MacDiarmid who argued for a synergy between science and art, the introduction of modernism into art and the creation of a distinctive national art. These ideas were expressed in art in the inter-war period by figures including Stanley Cursiter (1887–1976), William McCance (1894–1970), William Johnstone (1897–1981) and Fergusson.D. Macmillan, Scottish Art 1460–1990 (Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1990), , p. 348. Stanley Cursiter was influenced by the Celtic revival, post-impressionism and Futurism, as can be seen in his Rain on Princes Street (1913) and Regatta (1913). He went on to be a major painter of the coastline of this native Orkney, director of the National Gallery of Scotland and proposed the creation of a National Gallery of Modern Art in 1930.M. MacDonald, Scottish Art (London: Thames and Hudson, 2000), , pp. 163–4. Fergusson was one of the few British artists who could claim to have played a part in the creation of modernism and probably played a major part in the formulation of MacDiarmid's thought. His interest in machine imagery can be seen in paintings like Damaged Destroyer (1918). He co-operated with MacDiarmid on the journal Scottish Art and Letters and MacDiarmid quoted extensively from his work.Macmillan, Scottish Art , p. 350.
William McCance's early work was in a bold post-impressionist style. After the First World War he moved to London with his wife, fellow student Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980), where he joined the same circles as Fergusson, vorticist Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957) and nationalist composer Francis George Scott. Under these influences his work became increasingly abstract and influenced by vorticism, as can be seen in Women on an Elevator (1925) and The Engineer and his Wife (1925).Macmillan, Scottish Art, pp. 348–50. William Johnstone (1897–1981) was a cousin of F. G. Scott and met MacDiarmid as a student at Edinburgh. He studied cubism, surrealism and was introduced to new American art by his wife the sculptor Flora Macdonald. He moved towards abstraction, attempting to utilise aspects of landscape, poetry and Celtic art. His most significant work, A Point in Time (1929–38), has been described by art historian Duncan Macmillan as "one of the most important Scottish pictures of the century and one of the most remarkable pictures by any British painter in the period".M. Gardiner, Modern Scottish Culture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), , p. 173.Macmillan, Scottish Art, pp. 351–2.D. Macmillan, "Review: Painters in Parallel: William Johnstone & William Gillies", Scotsman.com, 19 January 2012, retrieved 8 May 2012.
Other artists influenced by modernism included James McIntosh Patrick (1907–98) and Edward Baird (1904–49). Both trained in Glasgow, but spent most of their careers in and around their respective native cities of Dundee and Montrose. Both were influenced by surrealism and the work of Bruegel. They focused on landscape, as can be seen in McIntosh Patrick's Traquair House (1938) and more overtly Baird's The Birth of Venus (1934). Before his success in painting, McIntosh Patrick gained a reputation as an etcher. Leading figures in the field in the inter-war period included William Wilson (1905–72) and Ian Fleming (1906–94).MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 175–6.
New Scottish Group
The longest surviving member of the Scottish Colourists, Fergusson, returned to Scotland from France in 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, where he became a leading figure of a group of Glasgow artists. Members of Fergusson's group formed the New Art Club in 1940, in opposition to the established Glasgow Art Club. In 1942 they held the first exhibition of their own exhibiting society, the New Scottish Group, with Fergusson as its first president.D. Macmillan, Scottish Art in the 20th century, 1890–2001 (Mainstream, 2001), p. 80.
The group had no single style, but shared left-wing tendencies and included artists influenced by trends in contemporary continental art. Painters involved included Donald Bain (1904–79), who was influenced by expressionism. William Crosbie (1915–99) was strongly influenced by surrealism. Marie de Banzie (1918–90), was influenced by expressionism and particularity post-expressionist Gauguin. Isabel Babianska (b. 1920), was influenced by expressionist Chaïm Soutine. Expressionism can also be seen as an influence on the work of Millie Frood (1900–88), which included vivid colours and brushwork reminiscent of Van Gogh. Frood's urban scenes contain an element of social commentary and realism, influenced by Polish refugees Josef Herman (1911–2000), who was resident in Glasgow between 1940 and 1943D. Macmillan, Scottish Art, 1460–1990 (Mainstream, 1990), , pp. 370–1. and Jankel Adler (1895–1949) who was in Kirkudbright from 1941 to 1943.MacDonald, Scottish Art, p. 187. Also influenced by Herman were husband and wife Tom MacDonald (1914–85) and Bet Low (1924–2007), who with painter William Senior (b. 1927) formed the Clyde Group, aimed at promoting political art. Their work included industrial and urban landscapes such as MacDonald's Transport Depot (1944–45) and Bet Low's Blochairn Steelworks (c. 1946).
Photography
In the early twentieth century notable photographic work in Scotland included that of visiting artists, such as Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882–1966), whose produced illustrations for the work of Robert Louis Stevenson and Paul Strand (1890–1976), as well as atmospheric depictions of Hebridean landscapes. There was also the record of the Gorbals in Glasgow made by Bert Hardy (1913–95), Joseph MacKenzie (b. 1929) and Oscar Marzaroli (1933–88), but, having pioneered photography in the late nineteenth century, the artistic attainment of native photographers was not high in the early twentieth century.D. Burn, "Photography", in M. Lynch, ed., Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), , pp. 476–7.
Later twentieth century to the present
Post-war artists
Notable post-war artists included Robin Philipson (1916–1992), who was influenced by the Colourists, but also pop art and neo-romanticism.MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 189–190. Robert MacBryde (1913–66), Robert Colquhoun (1914–64) and Joan Eardley (1921–63), were all graduates of the Glasgow School of Art. MacBryde and Colquhoun were influenced by neo-romanticism and the Cubism of Adler. The English-born Eardley moved to Glasgow and explored the landscapes of Kincardineshire coast and created depictions of Glasgow tenements and children in the streets.MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 191–2. Scottish artists that continued the tradition of landscape painting and joined the new generation of modernist artists of the St Ives School were Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912–2004) and Margaret Mellis (1914–2009).MacDonald, Scottish Art, p. 193.