More than twenty of the finest works by the 'Glasgow Boy', Joseph Crawhall, are to move from one major Glasgow institution to another.
The works of Crawhall, considered one of the founders of the Glasgow Boys, were eagerly collected by Sir William Burrell, founder of the Burrell Collection, and the painter will now be the focus of a new exhibition at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
The Burrell Collection, in Glasgow's south side, is to close this month, on October 23, for a £66m redevelopment project which will see it re-open in 2019.
Burrell at Kelvingrove: Joseph Crawhall will include 23 of his works and is the first time in more than twenty-five years that many of the works on display have been seen together in Scotland.
Throughout the Burrell’s refurbishment, the Burrell at Kelvingrove exhibitions will show a series of changing displays from the Collection.
The display space at Kelvingrove will also be used to prototype designs for the refurbished museum.
Sir Angus Grossart, the chair of Burrell Renaissance, which is leading the fund raising for the redevelopment, said: "Crawhall was known to have destroyed many of his works.
"The Burrell Collection to have 140 works by the artist, which demonstrates the strength of the collection.
"It is an example of Sir William’s passion and acumen as a truly important collector.
"It is this legacy which underpins our aspirations to raise the Burrell’s international profile and share significant works from the collection with audiences worldwide.”
Joseph Crawhall (1861–1913) was actually English, born in Morpeth, Northumberland.
He attended art school in Paris for a year but it was his collaboration and association with Glaswegian contemporaries E. A. Walton and James Guthrie that marked him out as one of the founders of the group of painters know as the Glasgow Boys.
Crawhall, Walton and Guthrie spent the summer of 1879 together and repeated the assocation several times in the following years.
Crawhall and Guthrie also remained friends when Guthrie lived in London, with Crawhall a frequent visitor to Guthrie's house in Maida Vale, and the two also collaborated on pictures.
In 1881, Crawhall, Guthrie and Walton spent time at Brig o'Turk with another Glasgow Boy, George Henry.
Although Crawhall exhibited an oil painting at the Royal Academy in 1883, he soon dropped oils for watercolours and pastel, and dedicated his art to painting animals and birds.
Crawhall travelled in Morocco and Spain, and was known as a perfectionist who destroyed much his work – the Burrell Collection owns some 140 examples out of the 400 works known to exist.
He died in 1913, aged 52.
Councillor Archie Graham, chair of Glasgow Life, which runs the city's galleries, said: “Joseph Crawhall is one of the most distinguished of the Glasgow Boys and we’re delighted to be able to share rarely seen works by Crawhall with audiences and visitors Kelvingrove.
"As we embark on the refurbishment and redisplay of the museum in Pollok Park, Burrell at Kelvingrove will give visitors the opportunity to understand and engage with our plans for what will be a world-class home for Sir William’s great legacy."
The treasures of the Burrell Collection are also to embark on an international tour, visiting galleries and museums in the US, Australia and further afield.
Burrell at Kelvingrove: Joseph Crawhall will run from 24 October 2016 – July 2017.
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 here