The Real Face Of Burns
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum
Murdoch's Lone, Alloway
0844 493 2601
www.burnsmuseum.org.uk
Until June 14
I've always been intrigued by the famous Alexander Nasmyth portrait of Robert Burns. Painted by his good friend, it appears on all the biscuit tins and tea-towels of the day, but somehow always seems a bit too smooth for my liking.
Apparently, Burns himself believed that a miniature executed by Alexander Reid, an unknown artist from Dumfries, offered the best likeness. This tiny painting shows a slightly jowly poet with a fine head of hair and a playful yet direct gaze looking off to the side. It's definitely less matinee idol and more matey drinking-companion, albeit one with an eye for the ladies.
From today, this painting of Burns goes on show at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, alongside several other likenesses of Burns, including a life-sized model of the poet's head, reconstructed by forensic scientists from the University of Dundee. To make the head, academics used Burns's skull, as well as the few existing portraits and a silhouette from his lifetime.
Several invited artists are contributing to this multimedia exhibition, including Graham Fagen, who is representing Scotland in this year's Venice Biennale, and David Mach, as well as two recent graduates, Rosie Dahlstrom and Shannon Laing. A poster boy Burns comes from John Cake and Darren Neave, who work collaboratively as the Little Artists. They have created a Lego Robbie Burns figure (£75) and a digital print of Lego Robbie Burns (£18). With his natty green blouson and embroidered waistcoat, he looks the business. I think Burns would have approved.
20th Century: Masterpieces Of Scottish And European Art
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One)
75 Belford Road, Edinburgh
0131 624 6200
www.nationalgalleries.org
From today
Now that the nationwide look-back to the last 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland that was Generation has ended, the space it occupied at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has been transformed yet again with a major rehang of masterpieces from its permanent collection. The display includes four works by William Turnbull which were recently acquired by the National Galleries of Scotland through the Henry and Sula Walton Fund, with support from the Art Fund.
20th Century: Masterpieces Of Scottish And European Art explores the role artists played in adapting and responding to events which took place during one of the most rapidly evolving and tumultuous century in history. Demonstrating links between artistic communities across the UK and mainland Europe, the display traces major developments in 20th-century art, from Expressionism and Cubism, to Abstraction and Pop Art. Expect to see some of the best of modern Scottish art (including JD Fergusson, Samuel Peploe, FCB Cadell, Margaret Macdonald and Steven Campbell) placed alongside the work of modern European masters (such as Pablo Picasso and Oskar Kokoschka) in an effort to examine the importance of international and local contexts.
There is also a memorial display celebrating the work of Dundee-born sculptor, painter and printmaker William Turnbull, who died in 2012 at the age of 90. Turnbull spent a number of years in Paris, where he met some of the century's greatest artists, including Fernand Léger, Alberto Giacometti and Constantin Brancusi. On show for the first time in the gallery are 23 newly acquired works on paper - ink, watercolour and chalk drawings - which have been presented by the artist's family through the Art Fund.
Jan Patience
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.Â
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.Â
That is invaluable.Â
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