Alice Strang

A New Era will tell an alternative story of the history of modern Scottish art, by examining the most advanced work made by leading and less high profile Scottish artists during the first half of the twentieth century. It will challenge the accepted view of the dominance of the Scottish Colourists and will reveal a hitherto little-known progressive Scottish art world. A New Era takes its name from the group established in Edinburgh in 1939 to show surreal and abstract work by its members, including William Gillies and Tom Pow. The book will reveal Scottish artists' engagement with and interpretation of the great movements of European modern art, from Fauvism and Expressionism, to Cubism, Art Deco, Abstraction and Surrealism. Beginning with J. D. Fergusson's move to Paris in 1907 where he became entrenched in the French capital's avant-garde art scene and ending with the Arts Council of Great Britain's controversial acquisition of William Gear's Autumn Landscape from the Festival of Britain in 1951, A New Era reveals Scottish artists' commitment to the progress of art from pre-World War One Paris to London in the 1920s, Edinburgh in the 1930s, Glasgow during the early 1940s and the emergence of a new generation including Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Alan Davie after World War Two. A New Era: Scottish Modern Art 1900-1950 will reveal and celebrate Scotland's hitherto unknown radicalism. AUTHOR: Alice Strang joined the National Galleries of Scotland in 1999 where she is now a Senior Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. She has curated many key touring exhibitions and contributed to accompanying publications. SELLING POINT: * The book accompanies an exhibition to be held at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh from 2 December 2017 to 10 June 2018 80 colour illustrations

Scottish Modern Art, 1900-1950

A New Era

Frances Fowle

Elizabeth Cumming

Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935) was the eldest of the four artists popularly known as "The Scottish Colourists." Born in Edinburgh, he was drawn to France and returned to paint there frequently, moving in 1910 to Paris, where he moved in artistic avant-garde circles. His painting style gave way to a more contemporary and expressive approach, and he used rich colors applied with more structured brushstrokes. In 1912 Peploe returned to Edinburgh and slowly began to build a successful career as an exhibiting artist. From around 1914 until his death, he sought to paint the perfect still life. A modest selection of props, including roses or tulips, fans, books, fruits, and Chinese vases, were carefully placed in infinite varieties on patterned drapery. In 1929 he explained: "There is so much in mere objects, flowers, leaves, jugs, what not—colors, forms, relation—I can never see mystery coming to an end." This beautifully illustrated book accompanies a major exhibition devoted to the artist in his home town of Edinburgh, and throws fascinating new light on Peploe's life, on the influence of France on his work, and on his posthumous reputation.

S. J. Peploe

This revelatory book concentrates on Scottish women painters and sculptors from 1885, when Fra Newbery became Director of the Glasgow School of Art, until 1965, the year of Anne Redpath's death. It explores the experience and context of the artists and their place in Scottish art history, in terms of training, professional opportunities and personal links within the Scottish art world. Celebrated painters including Joan Eardley, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh and Phoebe Anna Traquair are examined alongside lesser-known figures such as Phyllis Bone, Dorothy Johnstone and Norah Neilson Gray, in order to look afresh at the achievements of Scottish women artists of the modern period. The book accompanies a show which will be held at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two in Edinburgh from 7 November 2015 to 26 June 2016.

Alice Strang

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