Art
Discoveries
John McEwen
The new extension to the Scottish National Gallery has opened with an exhibition of eighteenth and nineteenth-century paintings, drawings and prints chronicling 'The Discovery of Scotland', mostly by its own artists but also by such notable outsiders as Turner, Ward, Millais and, of course, Landseer. Chronological accuracy rather than style or spectacle is the order of the day. There is plenty to pore over in cases and on screens, whereas one of the best paintings in the show, Peter Graham's 'A Spate in the Highlands', is tucked away on the only staircase.
Pinturicchio, rather surprisingly, is credited with the first painted representation of the Scottish landscape, in the background to his fresco 'Aeneas Piccolomini at the court of James I'; though, since he had never been there, his view bears little relation to the facts. This painting is in the Pic colomini Library, Siena, so it only features in the catalogue to the present exhibition, but in certain important ways it presages much of what was to come: the inability of Scottish artists, in particular, to see Scotland with their own eyes; and a tendency to romanticise. The successive influences of Dutch painting, the vision of Walter Scott and French painting dominate the exhihition. On the whole the earlier work is the best. Alexander Runciman, Ward, Thomson of Duddingston, Landseer (for a sketo of 'Loch Avon' more than 'The Monarch of the Glen') all shine, and the later years are redeemed by Millais's portrait of Ruskin, the Graham already mentioned, ELY" Cameron's etchings and the stolid Pro. fessionalism of Pringle and George HWY' Sporting views of Scotland have clearlY been thought infra dig, so not a grouse drive is to be seen and certainly nothing by .1,6' Millais. But the greatest defect is that too many of the best artists have been under,represented in the interests of acadern' satisfaction. In the cases of Lavery and Tom Scott, that fine watercolourist, this amounts to lack of judgment. Lawrence Preece's new show of acrYtic paintings, drawings and etchings (Redferl till 15 November) is not quite the match° his last, but full of good things nonetheless. Preece is a born eclectic, and his exhibitiofl! tend to burst at the seams with ideas an° humour. This comes as a welcome relief 1411 an age when it is all too fashionable for a" to be looked upon as a sacerdotal activitY' not least by artists themselves. The nevi. show plays down the gusto and some of his customary jokiness in favour of CO solidation. A Linbury Trust Award enableu' him to travel in Mexico and Guatemala Cart her this year, and some of the larger Pai,r1.: ings already show the influence of tPli expedition in their ambiguous depictionsf5. stepped or jungle-bound MOTIUMe1110 PreeCe'S central concern has always heeet the ambiguity of pictorial space, the effeaj often heightened by depicting sculPtur, objects in landscape settings free of assoela; tive scale, so the experience of Mexico via, bound to be crucial to him. Not surprisingblY it is not yet fully incorporated in his wor% The Mayor Gallery is about the only ot in London that keeps in touch with trends and its latest show (till lei November) provides a first view over hero, of a new New York picture fad already c° veniently nicknamed 'Pattern Paintiago. Pattern Painting in the hands of the artists represented Robert Kushner arAle, Kim MacConnell, is as pretty and ollitite manding as the sobriquet suggests. led work hangs loose in tie-dye and fabricathat splendour, successfully continuing rkey West Coast tradition of taking the ntlehr,se out of the protestant East, Kushner, w"-be 'pictures' derive from special costumes e, designed for his own performance sPe,o, taculars, is more jokey than MacColl„' indulging in such titles as 'Blue JaY :To Bunny Looking at Summer Flowers. that seems to be where it should be at'
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