A PAINTING by controversial war artist Peter Howson depicting an

apparent rape scene in Bosnia has been bought by Aberdeen Art Gallery,

and went on show to the public yesterday.

However, Dr Lindsay Errington, Keeper of Fine Art, does not expect the

same controversy to surround Howson's Serb and Muslim as did his

painting, Croatian and Muslim, which was rejected by the Imperial War

Museum.

The museum, which commissioned the Glasgow Art School graduate to go

to Bosnia, decided the explicit rape scene was too brutal for its

permanent collection. It was later bought by singer David Bowie.

The painting which Aberdeen Art Gallery has purchased cost #16,200

with the aid of a 40% grant. ''I think we got a masterpiece very

cheap,'' said Dr Errington.

The purchase was approved by Aberdeen district councillors.

She said Croatian and Muslim was a very explicit rape ''and it was in

my mind that sort of picture was not something I could acquire for

Aberdeen and which I could hang in a place where people might be

bringing their children''.

Shw went on: ''One had to find a picture that was truthful but wasn't

going to cause upset to people who come in with young children.

''It is a piece of living history. It is not yet a rape but a struggle

between a man and a woman.

''Their interlocked struggle has become a symbol of the Bosnian

tragedy as a whole and of the violence perpetrated by one race upon

another.''

The painting did not shock 71-year-old grandmother Dorothy Paterson,

of Aberdeen, who was one of the first to see it. A regular visitor,

sometimes with her grandchildren, she said: ''Nothing much shocks me

nowadays. It is a shocking world we live in.''