They are remarkable, first-hand representations of the treacherous conditions of the First World War, a period in history that is currently taking centre stage in the Bafta award-winning film All Quiet on the Western Front.
Highland-born artist Finlay Mackinnon (1863 - 1931) captured the devastation wrought on the French landscape while serving with the 4th Seaforth Highlanders.
Now, an exhibition of the watercolours and sketches he created in the trenches are to go on display for the first time after an album of his work was bequeathed to Gairloch Museum in the north west of Scotland.
The collection showcases two of the artist’s most well-known subjects, the landscapes of his beloved Highlands and his experiences fighting on the Western Front,
Born in Poolewe, as a young boy he worked as a crofter in the Highlands but is said to have known as early as seven that he wanted to be an artist.
Early attempts in watercolour, achieved by the aid of a shilling box of paints, started him in a course of instruction.
He progressed rapidly and about 1881 he came to the notice of Henry William Banks Davis (1833-1914) of the Royal Academy of Arts who in 1883 took him to London.
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He later studied in Paris and Italy and exhibited at the Royal Academy every year from 1909 until the call to mobilise went out in August 1914.
He joined 4th Battalion, the Seaforth Highlanders and was shipped out to France in November, eventually rising to the rank of Captain.
He remained in France and Belgium for five years’ service until the battalion was demobilised in October 1919.
A grant from the Association for Independent Museums allowed Gairloch Museum to fund the conservation of the album.
Pauline Butler who has researched the exhibition and helped coordinate the exhibition will also be giving a talk on the life and work of Finlay Mackinnon on March 9, the anniversary of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.
All Quiet On The Western Front was the biggest winner at Sunday night’s Baftas, with one of those heading home with an honour a Scottish former professional triathlete-turned-screenwriter.
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Lesley Paterson, who hails from Stirling, bought the rights to the classic German book and spent 16 years trying to get the film off the ground, only to see it win seven honours, including her Best Adapted Screenplay, together with her collaborators Edward Berger and Ian Stokell.
A spokesperson for Gairloch Museum said: “Research for the exhibition has brought a wealth of new knowledge about the artist to add to the museum archives, and the donors are delighted that these paintings have ‘come home’, the Museum being less than a mile from where Finlay Mackinnon is buried in Gairloch’s new cemetery.”
The museum’s upper gallery will also be hosting a first exhibition by Katherine Sutherland, who draws inspiration from the Scottish Colourists and the Impressionists, as well as Joan Eardley, Peter Prendergast and Duncan Shanks
Living and working in the Highlands, she trained as a nurse before becoming a full-time artist in 2014.
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She said: “My ‘Colours of Scotland’ exhibition invites visitors to look at the colours of the landscape around us through my eyes.
“Framed by mountains and lochs, the Highlands of Scotland are a spectacular landscape to paint.
“The light and colours are forever changing and its elusive quality transforms the landscape in a matter of seconds.
“I strive as an artist to convey a sense of place by capturing this fleeting magic.”
Gairloch Heritage Museum opened in 1977 at Achtercairn Steading, to house the growing collection of artefacts donated by local people.
The museum’s logo is the fish symbol of the Pictish carved stone, the first of only two ever found on the west coast mainland.
More than £2.4million was raised to relocated the museum to an anti-aircraft Operations Room (AAOR), constructed during the early years of the Cold War to help defend the country against low-flying Russian planes carrying atomic bombs.
Members of the public are invited to an early preview of both exhibitions on March 2 from 7pm to 8pm before the museum re-opens the following week on March 9.
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