From Havana to Hampden: Celtic's history in paintings

Chief Sports Writer

Monday 21 May 2012

PAINTINGS by a Cuban artist are to be the focus of an exhibition celebrating Celtic to be held at the Scottish Football Museum, providing the last frame of an extraordinary story.

AWAY GAME: Richard Brearty, curator of the Scottish Football Museum, with works by Cuban artist Yoannis Rigo that will be central to a new exhibition about Celtic.

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Hugh MacDonald

Yoannis Rigo has produced a series of oil paintings – featuring such Parkhead heroes as Willie Fernie, Henrik Larsson and Billy McNeill – despite having no interest in football and having never watched the team play.

However, the 27-year-old will visit Scotland to see his work exhibited in the home of Scottish football.The Cuban artist painted the Celtic works after being approached by Tom Campbell, a historian who has written several books on the club.He said: ''I visited Cuba last year and had the idea of getting a local artist to paint images charting Celtic's history from the beginning until the present time for a children's book on the club that I am writing.''Mr Campbell visited the Instituto Superior De Arte in Havana, and the principal recommended Rigo. The author, who is searching for a publisher for the children's book, said: ''It was serendipity. Yoannis did some line drawings that were excellent. "I had some Celtic photographs with me and I asked him if he could render them in oil paintings. The results were spectacular.''Rigo, who had only played football briefly as a child, had to be shown precisely how footballers jumped and tackled. Mr Campbell said: ''Football is not a big sport in Cuba and the children mostly play baseball. I had to demonstrate to Yoannis how a player would head a ball, how his arms would fly out.''The subsequent paintings will now form the centrepiece of an exhibition at Hampden in August celebrating the club. They will be hung alongside displays of memorabilia from the club's past. There will be items relating to some of the most famous names in Celtic's history including John Thomson, the goalkeeper who died after a collision in a match against Rangers in 1931; Jimmy McGrory; Jimmy Johnstone; Jimmy Delaney; Patsy Gallacher and Jock Stein, the manager who led Celtic to the 1967 European Cup triumph 45 years ago. Bertie Peacock's winner's medal from the 1957 League Cup final when Celtic beat Rangers 7-1 will also be on show. The Thomson medals include a Glasgow Cup medal from season 1927/28 and a St Vincent de Paul Saltcoats Charity Cup medal from the same season.Mr Campbell was so impressed by the work of Rigo that he bought all of the paintings and has donated them for exhibition. ''I would love to sell them on, but Yoannis will share in the profits. I have already sold two to a major bidder, but the others can still be purchased.''Rigo showed outstanding technical skill and intuition in completing the works. The ball depicted in a painting of Charlie Tully from 1954 required considerable patience as Campbell had to advise Rigo on the precise colour of the old-fashioned bladder. Mr Campbell added: ''There was an extraordinary moment when Yoannis looked at the photograph of Martin O'Neill with his arm around Neil Lennon's neck as they approached Celtic supporters at Ibrox in 2005. "Yoannis asked me if Neil was injured during the match. I said no but he then told me that Neil's posture suggested he had suffered a bad back injury.''Unbeknownst to the artist, Lennon, now the Celtic manager, underwent major surgery on his back as a young player.The artist's work has been exhibited in Miami and Canada, but this will be his first show in Scotland.

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From Havana to Hampden: Celtic's history in paintings

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