Ages of Wonder : Scotland’s Art 1540 to Now
- Submitting institution
-
University of Dundee
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 28655499
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
-
-
- Location
- Edinburgh
- Brief description of type
- University of Dundee
- Open access status
- -
- Month
- November
- Year
- 2018
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- Ages of Wonder tells the story of the collecting of Scottish Art over a 150 year period. Watson gained unprecedented access to archival collections at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA). The research revealed gaps in the collection and Watson responded with a curatorial approach to address the historic and contemporary cultural impact and significance of the academy. A large-scale multi-form evolving exhibition presented artworks, including masters from both RSA and National Galleries Scotland (NGS), together for the first time. The output includes the exhibition; live events, talks and presentations; a book; an essay; and a journal paper.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- ‘Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art from 1540 until
Today’ is a curatorial and editorial research project
led by Arthur Watson. As Secretary, then President,
Watson led a five-year research project within
the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) to survey its
collections and library. Following this, an endowment
was established to address gaps in these historic
holdings, while raising their profile within the
museum sector. Importantly, the study set the
agenda for this major exhibition charting the
Academy’s entwined history with the National
Galleries of Scotland (NGS).
As curatorial lead, Watson in partnership with Sir
John Leighton, Director General of NGS, retained
responsibility for the selection, design and installation
of the exhibition. With Dr Tom Normand (University
of St Andrews), Watson developed the catalogue and
collected essays to accompany the show, contributing
the ‘Foreword’ with Leighton and the final essay.
Central to the exhibition was a group of master works
from the RSA collection, (currently held by the NGS)
that had not been seen together since their gift in
1910. Around this, the audience was invited to explore
the conventions of exhibition-making over three
centuries, from the Victorian salon to the white cube.
For example, the ways in which artists and architects
have made, and continue to make, work were
explained through live projects in the galleries:
revisiting the Academy Life School taught each week
by Academicians; engagements with contemporary
printmaking on a historic press; and through
public engagement with artist-in-residence Calum
Colvin (OBE), whose constructed installation towards
a photographic portrait of poet and polemicist
Hugh MacDiarmid stimulated ongoing debate
around Scottish cultural identity.
‘Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art from 1540 until
Today’ (4 November 2017–7 January 2018)
attracted 67,178 visitors over 63 days – with many
others attending related lectures, talks and events.
Touring selections travelled to a further seven venues.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -