30 January 2025
This month we’ll be delving into 40 Years of Scotland’s Photography Collection. This world-class collection officially started in 1984 with the premise of establishing a significant body of works by the pioneers of photography, Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson. Over the last 40 years numerous collectors and photographers have donated works, from the Edinburgh Photographic Society to a collection of contemporary works that have been acquired by the National Galleries and Tate.
The selected pieces on show are from an extensive range of over 55,000 works, covering a broad scope of the lens from social documentary to contemporary art. There’s a lot to pack in here, covering a range elements, so we focus on the many dimensions, techniques and compositions that we can fit in.
Joining us on this exciting journey will be Edinburgh-based photography scholar and lecturer Dr Roberta McGrath. Roberta writes on the history, theory and politics of photographic representation.
27 October 2022
This month we will be joined by NGS curators Emma Gillespie and Leila Riszko who will introduce us to Conversations with the Collection – a changing programme of displays which offers a new way to experience the national collection.
Each room bring to light rarely displayed yet fascinating artworks and stories. Works have been selected to create bold juxtapositions and visual similarities between artworks, styles and movements to offer a fresh take on how works of art can be presented and share the stories they tell. The aim is to unearth evocative stories and unexpected connections between artists and encourage a sense of openness and discovery.
Talking points are encouraged and explored by covering a wide mix of techniques, processes and approaches, ranging across sculpture, painting, photography and more. Iconic works by famous artists such as Anish Kapoor, Sarah Lucas, Jackson Pollock, Tracey Emin and Cindy Sherman are on display alongside those by brilliant but lesser-known figures including Carole Gibbons and Catherine Yarrow.
Each display explores a unique theme or topic with the thematic displays placing conversation at their heart in a bid to inspire conversations with the collection.
31 March 2022
This month we are visiting New Arrivals: from Salvador Dalí to Jenny Saville at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Joining us for the evening will be Emma Gillespie. Emma has worked in a number of roles at the National Galleries of Scotland since 2014 and was appointed Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art in 2019.
New Arrivals presents a fascinating showcase of the most recent acquisitions at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Featuring over 100 works of art, many of which are being shown here for the first time since they entered the collection, and spanning 110 years of art-making, the show offers a stunning range of modern and contemporary work including painting, sculptures, films and more.
Exhibition highlights include pieces by many historical and contemporary greats: Marc Chagall (the first painting by him to join a public collection in Scotland), Damien Hirst, Wangechi Mutu, Pablo Picasso, Bridget Riley, Jenny Saville, and Alberta Whittle, amongst many others. The show also spotlights a number of significant additions to National Galleries of Scotland’s world-renowned Surrealist collection, notably several works by female Surrealists, including Leonora Carrington and Dorothea Tanning.
28 March 2013 at 6pm
For our March event, we will be back on home territory visiting From Death to Death and Other Small Tales: Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the D. Daskalopoulos Collection at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One.
This remarkable exhibition brings together works from one of the foremost private holdings of modern and contemporary art, the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, with major works from the Gallery of Modern Art’s collection.
From Death to Death includes a range of works that focus on the body as a theme in 20th and 21st-century art practice, as well as providing a new context for both collections, with artworks often staged in surprising juxtapositions.
Since 1994, private collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos has amassed a body of iconic modern and contemporary artworks that collectively express a personal vision and sensibility. Artists represented within the exhibition include Marina Abramovic, Matthew Barney, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, Helen Chadwick, Marcel Duchamp, Robert Gober, Paul McCarthy, Ernesto Neto, Mike Kelley and Sarah Lucas.
Keith Hartley, Chief Curator at the Gallery of Modern Art, will join us in to discuss selected works in the exhibition and will give an insight into the process of collaborating with a private collector.
24 July 2008 at 6pm
This month we will be visiting the home of Wendy Law to explore her private collection of contemporary art.
Wendy Law is an Art Consultant specialising in artist projects, the art market and collections. Prior to setting up her art consultancy business in 2007, Wendy worked at the Scottish Arts Council as Collections Development Manager, setting up the National Collecting Scheme, Scotland and `Own Art’, Scotland. She was Curator of the Scottish Arts Council art collection from 1995-1998.
Wendy first started collecting in London during the eighties when she worked at GillianJasonGallery which specialised in modern British work and contemporary art. Since then she has built up her collection and now owns examples of work by artists working nationally and internationally such as Toby Paterson, Victoria Morton, Haley Tompkins and Nina Saunders.
We will be joining Wendy Law in discussion about her collection and how it has developed over the years and what factors influence her approach to selecting work. With an emphasise on Scottish and British art we will explore some of the individual works within the collection as well as discussing Scotland’s contemporary art scene. We will also consider how to collect for a domestic setting.
