THE first showcase of more than 100 newly acquired works in Scotland's national art collection opens today.
Almost all of the art is donated and the show includes work from the Boyle Family oeuvre -presented by the Peter Moores Foundation - bequeaths from patrons Henry Walton and Sula Wolff and gifts from Eric and Jean Cass.
The exhibition will take up an entire floor of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and is called New Acquisitions, featuring works that have been added to the collection over the past two years.
It includes major paintings by Joan Eardley and John Bellany, masterpieces of the early 1900s by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh and Frances MacNair, and one of the defining works of post-war British art, the Boyle Family's Tidal Series, from 1969. Curators said the exhibition was a tribute to the generosity of individuals who wanted art to be seen more widely.
Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, said: "With works by Margaret Macdonald at the beginning of the 20th century to recent graduate of Glasgow School of Art, Alex Dordoy, the display also includes historic works by artists not previously represented in the collection to give a broader vision of the richness and diversity of art in Scotland.
"The display also contains works by major British and international artists, from John Hoyland and Michael Craig Martin to Picasso and Cezanne, as well as the work of an emerging generation, such as Ed Atkins and Ben Rivers."
The Walton collection centres on gifted pieces from Walton and Wolff, who settled in Edinburgh and who gave 200 works to the galleries.
Walton was Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh and Wolff was a well-known child psychiatrist. Their collection, assembled over 50 years, was hung at their house in Blacket Place in the Scottish capital. Collectors Eric and Jean Cass donated more than 300 artworks to the Contemporary Art Society, to be allocated to public institutions.
Through this route, the galleries received bronzes by Reg Butler, the French artist Cesar and a collection of works by Michael Craig-Martin.
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