This 180 page catalogue (top image) is the official log of all the works of art Dundee City Art Gallery had in its possession at the time of its publication - 1973.
Every painting, sculpture and drawing in their entire collection is listed. Even the artworks on loan to the gallery have made the inventory.
This also, is only the 2nd catalogue of its kind to be printed in the gallery's history, the 1st & original catalogue appearing in 1926. By the time they did this 2nd edition in '73, their collection had tripled in size!
The cover portrait is of local surgeon, John Crichton, who Crichton Street is named after.
I must admit, I always preferred their modern art collection to their old paintings, but there was one old style artwork I used to enjoy going over to view, this one above by Thomas Faed called "A visit of the patron and patroness to the village school". It was a good laugh seeing all the wee lads mucking about in class behind the backs of the elders. Nothing changes! The pupils were also all dressed in rags, while a mysterious black kid is dressed like a prince, and appears to be the only youngster there with a bit of self esteem.
This painting isn't listed in the catalogue though, because the gallery didn't acquire it until 1975.
I bought this postcard of it probably around the late 70's.
A detail from the Faed painting (showing the young black lad) is used on the cover of James Robertson's novel Joseph Knight
ReplyDeleteThe Orchar Gallery was always worth a visit - the Victorian stuff seemed fussy or romanticised, but there was often a good story in a lot of the works.