ONE of the largest exhibitions of modern and contemporary art in recent Scottish history will open in Edinburgh at the end of November.
Celebrating the latest and greatest additions to Scotland’s national collection, the free exhibition will open at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One) on November 27.
With more than 100 works on display, the exhibition entitled New Arrivals: from Salvador Dalí to Jenny Saville will be showcased across the entire ground floor of the Gallery.
National Galleries Scotland (NGS) stated: “A wide range of styles and movements spanning 110 years will be represented, from an early-20th-century Cubist collage by Pablo Picasso to recent time-based media works by leading contemporary artists.
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“Works by famous names such as René Magritte will be shown alongside those by brilliant but less-celebrated figures such as Marie-Louise von Motesiczky and Benjamin Creme. New Arrivals will also change throughout its run, revealing several pieces which for now must remain under wraps.”
Highlights of the exhibition will include striking and vibrant woodcuts by Alberta Whittle, who will represent Scotland at the 59th International Venice Biennale; a large-scale diptych by France-Lise McGurn, the Glasgow-based artist renowned for works paintings comprised of intuitive brushstrokes, and a painting by the acclaimed Scottish painter and printmaker Barbara Rae CBE.
Many artworks will be on public display for the very first time since they arrived at the Galleries. They include the first work by the highly sought-after artist Marc Chagall to enter Scotland’s national collection. L’Écuyère [The Horse Rider] (1949 – 1953) is a stunning example of Chagall’s fixation with depicting female circus horse-riders.
Scotland will be represented by, among others, Bows (about 1910), a painting by Frances Macdonald MacNair, a member of the celebrated “Glasgow Four”, which explores the theme of female sexuality in her distinctive Spook School style.
Also featuring will be Wangechi Mutu’s Histology of Different Classes of Uterine Tumors (2004 -2005), a series of 12 politically resonant collages which challenge the cultural objectification of women of colour. These were purchased with help from the Heinz Fund and Art Fund.
The exhibiiton will have seven unique prints by Ciara Phillips, an artist concerned with how printmaking can prompt discussions around current social and political concerns, purchased via the Iain Paul Fund.
Another highlight will be the first artwork by Jenny Saville to enter a UK public collection; Nude (Study for ‘Branded’) (1992) presents a female figure in an uncompromising way, confronting notions about idealised beauty from a feminist perspective. It was acquired through the Henry and Sula Walton Fund, an independent charity established to assist NGS in purchasing major works of modern art.
Two exciting film and sound installations gifted by Outset Contemporary Art Fund: The Slave’s Lament (2015) by Graham Fagen, an evocative interpretation of the 200-year-old poem by Robert Burns; and Hanna Tuulikki’s SING-SIGN: a close duet (2015), which responds to the history and geography of the narrow closes that run from Edinburgh’s most famous street, the Royal Mile.
New Arrivals will also feature works by Natalia Goncharova, Glen Onwin, Frances Walker, John Bellany, Marie Harnett and Stephen Campbell.
The exhibition is the fruit of five years’ worth of acquisitions work, all made possible by the generosity of NGS supporters.
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