Although they all tired of it quickly, the New Glasgow Boys label applied to Steven Campbell, Ken Currie, Peter Howson and Adrian Wiszniewski was more than a useful marketing tool.
Of the same generation and GSA training, all four were figurative artists with a gift for the fabulous, whether dark or light. Exhibited together in the 1980s, they made coherent sense – especially to untrained eyes – in a way that, say, the YBAs of Goldsmiths did not.
Thirty years on from their graduation, the four are rarely spoken of in the same breath. Campbell, whose work was arguably the most complex, died five years ago. Currie is painting more luminously than ever, shows at Flowers gallery in London and his Three Oncologists is one of the gems of the reopened Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Wiszniewski had a successful exhibition at London's Albemarle gallery last year and Scottish shows at Glasgow Print Studio and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, and is something of the renaissance man with his writing and musical theatre projects.
Howson is even more – but less purposefully – ubiquitous, his work rarely far from media attention, whether dealing with national pride (Burns), celebrity culture (Madonna), or contemporary faith (Christ), but the clarity and dignity he brought to his early pugilists, neds and jakies is gone. Now his work has been chosen to replace Salvador Dali's Christ of St John in Glasgow's St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art.
This is the latest chapter in a sorry saga. Ian Begg's 1990 building was designed with the much-loved Dali as part of its interior and was pretty much a tribute to Tom Honeyman's inspired acquisition of it for the city. When it was moved to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (where it is much less well displayed), it left a silly gap. Until recently that was filled by a Craigie Aitchison, which had the justification of being inspired by the Dali. Now that has gone and Howson's Crucifixion, 2010 has taken its place. The work is an insult to the art that has gone before it (and particularly to Aitchison) and completely out-classed by the small Belgian carved Madonna and Child from Sir William Burrell's collection that sits beside it. I have heard eloquent discussion about the meaning of Dali's painting, but this work says nothing at all and the artist's inane statement on the wall alongside says nothing for it. Glasgow's hard-won status as a hot-bed of the visual arts is immeasurably diminished by its display.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article