THE NEWSLETTER OF THE GLASGOW ART CLUB WINTER 2010 No. 34

President’s column

Wanted – the nexthundred members

Peter Graham writes:Over the last year I was fortunate tohave been granted permission toproduce a series of paintings at theGarrick Club in Covent Garden. Sinceit is one of our reciprocal clubs,members of the Glasgow Art Club canfrequent this illustrious establishmentwhen in London. The Garrick has awonderful theatrical tradition withmany members coming from the worldof the stage. From my paintings the Garrick Club

expressed an interest in A MorningRoom Study (above) which I wasdelighted to donate for theircollection.This watercolour shows the entrance

to the Morning Room flanked by abust of Sir Squire Bancroft, who ranthe Haymarket Theatre in Londonfrom 1880. The white marble bust wasexhibited at the Royal Academy in1881.

The bench seen on the right-handside, with carved ornamentation in theGreek style, belonged to the poetByron and was among his possessionsat Missolonghi.

The Chippendale-style chair in thecentre of the painting, one of a pair,belonged to the actor Sir Henry Irving,the first actor to be awarded aknighthood. He was one of the firstactor managers of the British stage,supervising sets, lighting, direction andcasting as well as playing the leadingroles. He is thought to have been theinspiration for the Bram Stokercharacter Dracula!

A new face will be seen in the Clubmost Thursdays and Fridays. LauraDonnelly has been recruited on a part-time basis to help boost the Club’smarketing. Her primary aim will be toincrease membership, and beyond thatto devise fund-raising schemes and toraise public awareness of the Club andwhat it stands for. She says that animportant aspect of her work will beprogramming events for both Clubmembers and outside organisations,including corporate events. Moreprominent use of the Club logo is alsolikely – for example it will bedisplayed on the windows facing BathStreet. Marketing will be active butnot ‘in-your-face’, in keeping with thecharacter of the Club – ‘No neonlights,’ she says. Laura, who is 24, has been working

part-time with the Prince and Princessof Wales hospice in Glasgow, whereshe has a similar remit. Born and bredin Glasgow, she is a graduate ofStrathclyde University and has adegree in French and Spanish. She alsoruns her own online business for hand-made wedding and greetingsstationery.

Planning for the future

LLAAUURRAABBRRIINNGGSSAA NNEEWWLLOOOOKK

Peter Graham’s A Morning Room Study

8

Pittendrigh(continued from page 7)

An ardent Scot, Pittendrigh spokelowland Scots vernacular, writing poetry,essays and plays in this tongue. He wrotesongs and played them on a violin madeby his own hands. Hugh MacDiarmidadmired his writing and the two werelinked in the Scottish Renaissancemovement.Elected to the Royal Scottish Academy

in 1901, Ll.D in 1909, Pittendrighbecame King’s Sculptor in Ordinary forScotland in 1921. He died in 1938 andwas buried in Edinburgh, his home formany years. In an obituary, JamesPittendrigh Macgillivray was acclaimedas being ‘in the front rank of Brisithsculpture of all time’.

Four young musicians from the RoyalScottish Academy of Music and Dramagave a recital in the Gallery on Sunday,October 17. Scottish-born mezzosoprano Laura Margaret Smith,currently working for her mastersdegree, has gained several scholarshipsand appears on the concert platformand in the opera house. ViolinistRachel Spencer (at back) has led boththe RSAMD’s chamber and stringorchestras and last year took part in atour of Scotland. Laura GabriellaGemesi, viola, has performed chambermusic in her native Hungary, Britain,Austria, Italy, Norway and Indonesia.Japanese pianist Ayako Kanazawa, anaccomplished accompanist, has beenengaged as a repetiteur for ScottishOpera in 2011.

The artist John Mackechnie with his wifeSue at the opening exhibition.

A scene from the opening show

…to Robert Kelsey on being awardedthe honorary degree, Master of theUniversity of the West of Scotland,earlier this year at a ceremony inPaisley. This recognises not only his

CONGRATULATIONS...standing in the community and hisachievement in art, but also hiscontribution to charity through thegift of paintings, by which he hasraised many thousands for variouscharitable organisations. Robert hasbeen a member of Glasgow Art Clubfor more than twenty years, serving onits council and for two years recentlyas honorary secretary.He graduated at Glasgow School of

Art in 1970, and after a spell ineducation he became a full-time artistin 1995. He exhibits regularly with,amongst others, the RGI and PaisleyArt Institute. Last year he was electeda fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

The most significant development since the last editionhas been the successful completion of the Drawing Roomproject on budget and on time. My thanks to Paul Dowdsand Connie Simmers and everyone else including ourprofessional advisers and the contractors who made ithappen – not least our Trustees who enabled it to befinanced.If you have not yet had a look at this new facility please

do. It is a handsome addition to our accommodation andmakes superb use of a redundant space. It will replace theGallery for the duration of itsrefurbishment but in the meantime is aspace from which we must generateincome. Council proposes if at allpossible to reserve the revenue earnedto compensate for the loss from notbeing able to host the larger functionsduring the refurbishment period.

An ongoing issue is that ourrecruitment of new members is justsufficient to compensate for deathsand resignations. I would like toincrease the membership by 100 net.Council will be embarking on asignificant marketing strategy for newmembers and to sell our facilities. If wehad that extra subscription incomeand the revenue new members wouldbring we could transform what wecould offer.

Our sister club in Edinburgh, theScottish Arts Club, which was headingfor closure, has just done preciselythat. With a much more handsomeproperty in Bath Street I cannot believethat what Edinburgh has doneGlasgow cannot match or better.All members have their part to play.

Please sell the Club and its facilities toyour friends and encourage them tojoin.

MUSIC HATH CHARMS – ART SEEN IN A NEW SETTING

Welcome to the Drawing RoomThe new first-floor Drawing Room (which used to be the billiard room) wasformally inaugurated in September with an exhibition of photo and digital-printsby John Mackechnie, director of the Glasgow Print Studio – images seen toadvantage in the bright ambience of the room, complementing and contrastingwith the members’ Autumn Exhibition in the Gallery a floor below. Picturedabove: Sheriff Iain Macmillan declaiming in best senatorial style at the dinnerheld to mark the opening of the new space. Right: scenes from the private view.

Glasgow firm En Croute has takenover catering services for the Club.There will be new faces in the kitchenbut our own management staff willcontinue to provide cheerful service.

BBoonn aappppeettiitt!!

7

In the last issue of the Newsletter Irecalled how I became secretary to DrMavor – otherwise ‘James Bridie’ – andmy rather unusual interview for the post,when we sang the 30th Paraphrasetogether – ‘Come, let us to the Lord ourGod…’ The job turned out, as I said atthe end, to be ‘a remarkable experience’.I was nineteen at the time, not long

arrived in the big city from Oban, andunsure of myself. He was the same age asmy father; an established author withplays running in the West End. He hadserved in the First World War, forheaven’s sake. Yet this distinguished manchose to take an interest in a callowyouth like me.

I sat at a big desk and typed his latestplay, or his latest article, or his latestletter to Bernard Shaw, or whoever, fromhis dictation straight on to an oldfashioned Remington, while he lolledback in his big chair. Sometimes Icouldn’t resist coming out with whatseemed the obvious next line, and hewould say, ‘That’s good, Iain. Just putthat in’. So I can claim that some ofBridie’s lines were mine. Not many!And he would talk to me about far awayplaces like Baku and Samarkand, orabout queer religions or ancient myths,and about Frazer’s Golden Bough. And Iread the theatre returns which came inweekly with the audience numbers, and Ileafed through the casting books withpictures of Alastair Sim and RobertDonat. And of course I dreamed ofbecoming a famous playwright, like him.My father was always telling me tales oflife in the villages up north, where he hadworked, and I told Dr Mavor some ofthem. ‘You should write a play, Iain,’ he said.

‘You’re good at dialogue’.So of course I wrote a play. In one act.

He said it was excellent, and he sent it tohis friend Paul Vincent Carroll, whowrote Shadow and Substance. MrCarroll sent it back, saying he hadenjoyed the story, but he didn’t think theyoung author was quite ready to be letloose on the public!Then the next thing was that he rang upColin Milne, the chief dramatic critic ofthe Glasgow Herald, and asked him tolet me do some theatre notices. AndColin Milne did! During that winter I

went to see shows and plays in theGlasgow theatres, and then hurried backto Buchanan Street where I typed mynotices on yellow copy paper andhanded them to the sub-editors, whoturned my prosy sentences intosomething short and snappy. But thesmell of printers’ ink was getting to me.

Dr Mavor’s plans for the Citizens’Theatre were well advanced by the timeI came to work for him. He wasdetermined that Glasgow should have atheatre where the best modern playswould be performed – even in war-time.So he and George Singleton and TomHoneyman and others put their headstogether, and the theatre opened onOctober 11, 1943, in the old Athenaeumbuilding with one of Bridie’s own plays,Holy Isle, with Duncan Macrae in thecast.My boss was busy with the organising

of the theatre, so two or three days aweek we would travel by bus from hishouse in Bearsden to the Glasgow ArtClub where he had meetings with hiscolleagues. I had no part in these, ofcourse, so instead I walked to theAthenaeum and lent a hand there. Ihelped to count the petty cash. I wentbehind the stage and helped to paint thescenery. I listened to the actors rehearseand marvelled at their talk of first nightsand last nights and theatre intrigue. AndI dreamed my own dreams.The programme was a folded sheet of

cardboard, all that could be managed inthe stringent conditions of war-time. Itgave the cast list and a brief descriptionof the play. There was a lovely footnotethat read – ‘In the event of an air raid theperformance will continue. If you wishto leave, please do so as quietly aspossible’. Later on, when the theatre wasestablished, I wrote the programmenotes myself, no doubt encouraged bymy boss.

I never became an author. I don’tsuppose Dr Mavor ever thought I would,but it was not for lack of encouragementby this wonderful, kind man.In March 1944 I received another kind

of notice. This one told me to report forservice in the RAF. On a fine springmorning I made my way to Dr Mavor’shouse for the last time, and with a heavyheart. I remember lingering by the fence,admiring the dewdrops glistening on thecobwebs in the early sunshine, and Ithought about the time I had spent withhim, how kind he had been to me, andhow much I had learned. I thought thenthat these eight months had been thehappiest time of my life.

Stagestruck andworking for Bridie

Norma Farquhar hails a man of manytalents in her latest essay on the historyof Glasgow Art Club

On visiting the recent exhibition TheGlasgow Boys at Kelvingrove you mayhave noted two plaques by JamesPittendrigh Macgillivray, the onlysculptor associated with the Glasgowschool of painters. Just as the ‘Boys’rebelled against established Victorianpainters, Pittendrigh (as he preferred tobe known) sought to establish a forwardmovement in sculpture, free fromtradition, showing energy, emotion,mood and character. Born in Inverurie in 1856, the son of a

sculptor, Pittendrigh trained in sculptureand ornamental plasterwork from theage of thirteen. Later he assisted theGlasgow architect James Mossmanbefore becoming an independentsculptor in 1879. He joined Glasgow ArtClub as an artist member in 1882. Hewas twenty-six years old.First of the Glasgow Boys to join was E

A Walton in 1878. Between then and1892 twenty-one more of the Boysjoined Glasglow Art Club as artistmembers. Although Joseph Crawhalllived at a distance from Glasgow andArthur Melville travelled constantly, theywere both frequent guests at the Club.

Pittendrigh continued his careerproducing architectural sculptures forGlasgow buildings, including the CityChambers and monuments forGlasgow’s Necropolis and othercemeteries. His first important publicwork was the statue of Robert Burns atIrvine in Ayrshire, 1895. There followedthe statues of Lord Byron in Aberdeen,the third Marquis of Bute in Cardiff, thebronze of John Knox in St Giles,Edinburgh, and the large-scalemonument to William Gladstone,Edinburgh, 1902, considered to be hismasterpiece.

James Bridie – detail from a painting inthe Club’s collection, hanging in the

reception room. Bridie just manages tokeek into Robert Eadie’s painting of aGlasgow street scene on a rainy day

PPIITTTTEENNDDRRIIGGHH’’SSTTHHEE NNAAMMEE

KKeeeepp iinn ttoouucchhThe Newsletter would like to hear fromyou. If you have an idea for an article,short item, anecdote or picture which youthink would interest readers, please contactus at secretary@glasgowartclub.co.uk orphone 0141 248 5210 and ask for the Clubsecretary. Or write to the Newsletter at theClub.

2

The winter exhibition of members’work (opening on Saturday, December4 at 12.30) runs until January 15.A recital by the Song Studio of the

RSAMD is scheduled for the afternoonof Sunday, December 12, preceded byoptional lunch from 12.30.It’s party time on Friday, December 17– ‘7.30 till late’. Victorian fancy dressis welcome but not essential. ActorJohn Cairney is billed to appear, but inwhat guise? Something Dickensian,perhaps. A feast from the buffet ispromised, plus parlour games andcarols by candlelight. What frolics!

Looking ahead to the new year,George Devlin will give a fund-raisingdemonstration of his art on Saturday,January 8. Brunch will be served at 11,painting demo for afters at 1.30.On Friday, January 21, an exhibition

of the RGI’s drawing competitionopens.‘A blast o’ Janwar win’ /Blew hansel

in on Robin’ – but our Burns supperwill be held on Friday, February 4.Look for details later.

The popping of champagne corks gavea fine introduction to the Art Club’sevening of commemoration of JimmyRobertson on October 15. The Gallerywas full and the mood relaxed butsharp enough to respond withacclamation to president RaymondWilliamson’s invitation to applaudJimmy’s work, and his stature in andcontribution to the Glasgow Art Club.As the Club bent to its supper so didthe decibels rise, and as the food wasenjoyed so did they rise and rise againuntil lip-reading became the easier wayto converse.

Distinguished guests, members ofJimmy’s family and members of theClub sat in a Gallery full of Robertsonmajor works which emphasised theartist’s philosophy of painting and hislove of colour and colour contrasts.

After dinner Katie, Jimmy’s step-daughter, recalled her early memoriesof family holidays and of her father’s‘impractibility’ (in everything barpainting!) and of the fun and humourthat abounded in the Robertson home. Then Leon Morrocco, who had come

to Glasgow to join the Art School staffin 1968, applied his ‘retrospectoscope’to life at the school, the Glasgowatelier, mentioning well-rememberednames – Donaldson, Goudie, Squire,Thomson and Duncan Shanks, etc. Herecalled how Jimmy hated ‘tightpainting and lines’ and pursued hisown free style that we admire today.He remembered too the parallel life ofthe art school band with Jimmy on thedrum kit, and produced a snippet of arecording, possibly the one with thevisiting Johnny Dankworth band.Even more decibels at this point.Roger Billcliffe spoke seriously about

Jimmy’s contribution to painting inGlasgow and the west of Scotland,commenting on his prodigious ouputof ‘painting from the heart rather thanthe head’, of painting of emotion ofmood, and revealing what was a littledifficult to believe, namely thatpainting for Jimmy was a constantstruggle, and that he had to perseverein meeting the constant challenge ofthe canvas.The serious moment was registered,

and passed, and the company turnedto the happier business of celebration –of the life of a supreme artist and

teacher, for a good companion andpast president, and of course, a familyman – the decibels were still risingwhen the evening closed.

Ian Melville

A presence at the festivities – JimmyRobertson, modelled by Robin Hume

Full house celebrates the life

of Jimmy

Robertson

Three members of Glasgow Art Clubhave published books recently. Twoappeared in October, EdnaRobertson’s fine biography of aremarkable medical man who made aname for himself in Africa beforereturning to Glasgow, Christie ofZanzibar: Medical Pathfinder (Argyll,£14.99), and Lesley Duncan’s wry andwitty Images Not Icons: Poems forOur Times (Kennedy & Boyd, £9.99)– some of which will already befamiliar to members.

Edna’s book, her third (‘my swansong’ as she called it bravely at thebook launch shortly before her death),follows the career of James Christie, agraduate of Glasgow University whotrained for the ministry beforebecoming a doctor. He spent nineyears in Zanzibar, where he pioneeredmethods of treating cholera – work forwhich he gained worldwiderecognition – acted as the sultan’smedical officer and became acquaintedwith Livingstone and Stanley. James Macaulay’s lavishly illustrated

study Charles Rennie Mackintosh(Norton, £42) was published in June.Also published this summer: amonograph on George Devlin’s lifeand art, A Brush with Life, by ThierryGardie (Scottish Gallery/PortlandGallery, £25).

Printed by ReproprintTel: 0141 440 1919Email: info@repro-print.co.uk

Author, author!(times three)

CLUB NEWS

Coming events

We welcome the following newmembers (category in brackets):

Anthony Hamilton (artist)Alice McMurrough (artist)Dr Alastair Ross (artist)Eve Leonard (young artist)Frank To (young artist)Paul Kennedy (young artist)Hamish Clark (architect)John Cunningham (architect)Brian McArthur (architect)Kae Tinto (lay, town)John Cairney (lay, town)Paul A Reid (lay, town)Alex Norton (lay, country)Hugo Brown (lay, country)Sheriff Colin Miller (lay, country)Dorothy Hoskins (lay, country)Donald Campbell (lay, corporate)Alasdair Morrison (lay, corporate)Suzan Malcolm (renewal)

New members

Iain Macmillanrecalls the happiestdays of his youth

(continued on page 8)

On September 8 the Club presidentRaymond Williamson, who is alsohonorary president of the ScottishInternational Piano Competition, atriennial event held in Glasgow whichattracts young talent from around theworld, hosted a supper party formembers of the board and the jury.The Club was accordingly visited by anumber of distinguished pianists andcomposers including Sally Beamish,Thea Musgrave, Norika Ogawa(Japan), Alfredo Perl (Chile), ArnaldoCohen (Brazil), and Susan Tombes(Scotland). The chairman of the boardof the competition, Baillie LizCameron, was also present.All were mightily impressed by the

Gallery and appreciated theopportunity to escape from listening toyet more piano music and relax inwonderful surroundings and enjoyconversation over food and wine.

A review of the recent Group of Sixexhibition in the Art Club appeared inthe arts section of the Herald onSaturday, November 6. The critic JanPatience was taken with Shona Barr’s‘luscious colour applied with gusto’and sensed ‘an almost sepulchral feel’in Hazel Nagl’s work which, shewrote, displayed ‘confidence andsoftness’. She was attracted by JenniferIrvine’s ‘subtle depiction of light andshade’ – and, indeed, had praise forthe work of all six (Liz Knox, DelnyGoalen and Connie Simmers were theothers). She noted that Connie hadbeen the first woman to break the all-male barrier of Club membership backin 1983, and she rounded off hercolumn by inviting the public to ‘ringthe bell and ask to see’ the exhibition –a helpful piece of advice to the publicin view of the Club’s current low-keypresence in Bath Street.

The Glasgow Boys exhibition whichhas opened in London (see this page)received a lengthy review in TheGuardian on Saturday, October 30,prompting this response in the paper’sletters page. It was signed JohnCarnegie, Glasgow:‘I was fascinated by the article about

the Glasgow Boys exhibition openingin London. However, it would havebeen much more helpful to be able toread it when the same exhibitionopened here in Glasgow, earlier thisyear.’

3

Kailyards have uneasy connotations ina Victorian literary context. Happilynot so in a painterly one. There are,nonetheless, rather a lot of cabbageson view at London’s Royal Academywhere the Glasgow Boys exhibitionhas transferred from Kelvingrove. Take the space-bullet glass lift to the

top floor of the building and you findyourself in the Sackler Wing of the RAwhere the exhibition is mounted. It’smost pleasurable to meet up withfamiliar canvases in this metropolitansetting. And, it must be said, the airygallery spaces are probably kinder tothe works than the subterraneanreaches of Kelvingrove. The background material is generous

in acknowledging the Boys’ impact onthe wider European scene of their day(‘Taking inspiration from such FrenchNaturalistic painters as Bastien-Lepage and also from Whistler, theGlasgow Boys produced some of themost revolutionary painting in Britain,drawing praise in London, Munich,Vienna and further afield.’)

It’s not an identical exhibition toKelvingrove’s, but there are manyfavourites to be relished. For me theseinclude James Paterson’s tranquilcanvases of Moniaive and Autumn inGlencairn, the central white river inthe latter pulling the eye into thedistant hills. Arthur Melville’swondrous use of watercolour seems,as always, to be pushing forward thepossibilities of the medium, whether inMediterranean crowd scenes or just inthe intensity of the colour he achieves,as in The Sapphire Sea. John Laverywith his Tennis Party offers a glimpse

INTERNATIONAL MUSICIANS DINE AT THE CLUB

of high-bourgeois suburban life. In asense, though, these are the exceptionsin theme. And after relishing theGlasgow Boys’ ability to celebrate thepredominantly rural withunsentimental skill and freshness andpainterly flair, is one disloyal toharbour a certain disappointment?These accomplished artists were livingin a Glasgow at the peak of itsindustrial power and influence, whenits shipyards and locomotive workswere turning out heroic products ofheavy engineering that briefly gave thecity global pre-eminence. One wouldnever guess it from these largelybucolic scenes. The Glasgow Boys obviously felt no

compulsion to be recorders of theirtimes - perhaps because they had nofirst-hand experience of industrialwork, though many of their patronsmust have built their fortunes on such.Maybe they were quite deliberatelyescapist.

Better, however, to cherish thetreasures the Boys left behind thanlament theoretical ones. They broughtprestige to Glasgow in internationalcultural circles in their day. Perhapsthis London showing may have thesame effect again.

Lesley Duncan

Guests from the Scottish International Piano Competition, left to right: Robert Love,Thea Musgrave, Alfredo Perl and Norika Agawa

6

Edna Robertson, who died onNovember 9 at the age of 75, was along-serving stalwart of the Club. Shejoined in 1988, just four years afterwomen were admitted to membership.At that time she was a full-timejournalist, but after she left the Heraldshe was able to play a more active partin GAC activities. In the early 2000sshe served on the Club council andhelped to edit the Newsletter.

A committed Glaswegian, Ednafollowed a history degree fromGlasgow University with post-graduate study at Michigan StateUniversity. She joined the thenGlasgow Herald, working up from thelibrary to become chief leader writerand an assistant editor. She travelledfor the paper, writing informedfeatures on India, China and Zaire at atime when these lands were openingup to the West. She kept a specialinterest in the USA and covered severalpresidential elections.

She wrote three books, the first ahistory of Yorkhill hospital (1973)which led to an interest in key figuresin Glasgow’s medical history. HerGlasgow’s Doctor (1998) traced thelife of the city’s first MOH. Twelveyears later her Christie of Zanzibarappeared. By then she was gravely ill,but with characteristic determinationshe gathered the strength to speak atthe book launch, a triumphantlyhappy occasion enjoyed by many ofher good friends.

Edna’s personal reserve andimpatience with any woolly thinkingwere balanced by her warm generosityand concern for people and animals.She loved the open air, gardening andhill-walking, and enjoyed nothingmore than a good heated discussionwith congenial companions over alengthy meal. She will be sadly missed.

Jean Reid

John Fowler writes: I got to know andadmire Edna when I joined the Heraldin what old-stagers now regard as agolden age. Though she was a star ofthe paper she was less known to thereadership than some writers becauseleader columns carry no byline.Editorial conferences were enlivenedby her tenacious left-of-centre views.Though leader writing was her metiershe could move confidently in other

Ann Parker, who has died at the age of75, was housekeeper at Glasgow ArtClub for seventeen years from 1983 toJanuary 2000.

She came to the Club from theRogano restaurant, where she hadbeen manager. Throughout her timewith the Club she lived in what wasthe flat on the second floor – nowconverted to other uses – where hermerry parties were memorable. James Macaulay remembers her as a

persuasive manager in occasionallydifficult times, and her elegantpresence at Club functions.

Dai Vaughan writes: We first got toknow Ann through our daughter Lucyworking at the Art Club. Jenny and Iwere immediately struck by howglamorous she was, and how good shewas at dealing with people.We soon became aware of how good

she was at juggling the wishes of themembers with the need to generaterevenue for the Club, by holding

Ann Parker

EdnaRobertson

Edna Robertson – a happy moment ather book launch in October

OBITUARIES

In memory of a fine writer, and a much-loved keeper of this house

COMMENT INTHE PRESS

The Glasgow Boys go southfields – even, to her amusement (andpride) appearing on the sports frontpage with a football report fromAfrica. Once, reporting in America,she was subjected to a terrifying knifeattack – but, being Edna, fought back.Off duty we shared a passion for thehills. Summer and winter (I have seenher glasses sprinkled with snow onsome ben or other) she was a doughtywalker – the adjective serves for herlife.

functions for outside organisations.She was brilliant at this. Of course areal plus was that she attracted aroundher a loyal staff, who both loved andrespected her. Many of these stayed incontact when she left the Club, andvisited her in her new home inHyndland, where she held many mostenjoyable social gatherings.In her new home she was surrounded

by paintings and drawings by artistmembers, bringing her many happymemories, especially of the firesidegang whom she used to recall fondly.She also enjoyed her garden.

Although very organised, she wasalways fun to work with. I experiencedthis first- hand when, with animportant function only an hour awayand a member of staff unwell, she rangme out of the blue. I dashed from my

bath to the phone, to be asked if I hada white shirt and pair of black trousershandy. I had, and so found myself atthe Club polishing glasses andsilverware in a panic of preparations.After that I handed around glasses ofchampagne – rather wanting a tipplemyself, but of course I never did. That came later, when all the guests

had departed. Indeed, at the end of afunction, when all the furniture hadbeen put back in place, and everythingtidied, Ann enjoyed having a bit of adrink and a singsong, particularly Irishfolk songs.She was a wonderful, warm hearted

lady who our whole family loved verymuch. We are happy to have knownher and be counted amongst herfriends.

Ann Parker – fun to be with

Artist member Patricia Cain hasreceived this year’s ThreadneedleVisual Arts prize, worth £25,000, forher Building the Riverside Museum – apastel work showing Glasgow’s newtransport museum under construction.

Prizewinner

5

Marjory Gray, one of our group, amember of the Hallé chorus who hassung at the Club’s Burns suppers, sangthe Eriskay Love Lilt. The church wasfull of tourists of a dozen nationalitiesbut they all stood in rapt silence as themelody added to the magic of thebuilding. Marjory, Charles Anderson’s‘wee sister’, with her rich contraltovoice, made our visit the highlight ofthe week.

SATURDAY

Weather chilly, wet and windy, aforestaste of autumn, even in Italy. Bybus to Ferrara, stopping first at thePalazzo dei Diamante, the palace ofthe d’Este family, so called for thediamond-shaped stones of its walls,now the site of the Pinacoteca – mainlyfrescos salvaged from churches in thesurrounding countryside, and worksby early Renaissance painters. Nextthe Museo della Cattedrale, notablefor a beautiful 15th century Madonnaand a collection of illuminated choralbooks containing miniature depictionsof birds and animals of photographicaccuracy. After lunch, the cavernouscathedral itself, with an apse paintingof the last judgment by Bastianino.Next, the Castello Estense withdungeons of the better sort forprisoners of good family only. Back toBologna in our wee purple bus pilotedthrough a rainstorm by our amiabledriver who looked is if he had juststepped out of a Quattrocento fresco.

SUNDAY

Glorious sunshine all day. A rapidtransit to Mantova (Mantua) to be metby the last of our guides, the delightfulGiuliana Varini, always smiling, whointroduced us to the town’s new statueof Rigoletto before moving on to thePalazzo Ducale, home of the Gonzagafamily for three hundred years, whoeventually blew it financially.Labyrinthine ways culminated in theCamera degli Sposi, the superb ceilingpainted by Mantegna. Giulianadirected us to a restaurant in thePiazza Broletto, from which we had agrandstand view of the Gran PremioNuvolari, an international event forveteran and vintage cars from all overthe world, which aroused youthfullusts and disinterred the not so latentadolescent in a surprising number ofthe company, mostly but notexclusively male. Finally the Palazzodel Te with frescoes by Giulio Romanoalluding with little subtlety to its

function as combined stable andpassion pad for the Gonzagas. Homeagain, to be passed by squads ofFerraris and Porsches on theautostrada.

By happy coincidence Mantova hadbeen shown on our TV screens only afew days before we left Glasgow. Thiswonderful production of Rigoletto

used both the Palazzo Ducale and thePalazzo del Te and other parts of thecity as well. The engine noise of therally cars did not help lunchtimeconversation, but what a wonderfulsight they were.

MONDAY

A day of rest, recollection and leisurelysouvenir and present hunting.Ambling, window-shopping, stoppingfor coffee, postcard writing, meetingcasually with others in the group, thenback to base to pack for early starttomorrow.

TUESDAY

Bus to airport, usual trek to Ryanaircheck-in desk at outer limits of thebuilding – surprise, the plane’s almostin time. On landing, bus to the ArtClub door and a welcome by Naoimhand crew with soup and sarnies.

We left Italy wishing to see more – thewhole holiday was over too soon.Charles Anderson, who was in chargethroughout, deserves congratulations.His ability to give a vote of thanks inboth English and Italian is impressive.This year’s trip will be hard to beat butthe search has already started for nextyear’s destination – ideas please.

A quiet corner – the leafy courtyard at the hotel in Bologna. Photo: Margaret Bankier

4

This autumn a group from theClub spent a hectic week of

cultural discovery in the north ofItaly. JOHN HAMILTON andJAMES BANKIER kept diaries

of the trip

TUESDAY

JH: Our Hotel, the Porta San Mamoloturned out to be comfortable,although some rooms were treated toimpromptu serenades as the restaurantopposite skailed at one in the morning.Dinner – arranged in advance – a verygood meal lubricated by the localSangiovese wine which set the tone forthe week.

JB: Thanks to our table of twenty, therestaurant sounded exactly like aGlasgow Art Cub function. After thatfirst meal we did our own thing andsmall groups searched out restaurantsand compared notes afterwards.

WEDNESDAY

9am – Met by Daniella Bigatti, small,slim, young and formidably wellinformed, who led us briskly down agentle slope into thecentre of Bologna (notso gentle when toilingback to the hotel at theend of the day). Firststop, the Basilica SanDomenico, last restingplace of St Dominic, themagnificence of thebuilding internally andof his tomb, graced bythree small satues byMichelangelo, ininteresting contrast tothe austerity of his lifeand the unimpressiveexterior.

Then to the Palazzodell’ Archinnasio, oneof the oldest parts of Bolognauniversity – the feature to note beingthe 17th century Sala Anatomica,carefully reconstructed from materialsretrieved after destruction by Alliedbombing in the war.

The energetic Signorina Bigattisomewhat reluctantly allowed a coffeeand comfort break of ten minutes,stretched by the company to thirty,then briskly off to the Basilica di SanPetronio, said to be the fifth largestchurch in the world, with a sundial at66.8 metres said to be the longest in

the world. Paintings by GiorgioMorandi at the Palazzo Communale,followed by a welcome release at theexuberant Fontano Nettuno, with four

statuesque mermaids expressingcopious jets of water from their breastsbelow a nude Neptune, brawny andwell-endowed. Lunch followed byscrutiny of shops, cafés and barsbefore return to hotel.

It should be admitted that after severalhours walking cobbled streets,climbing staircases, craning necks andlistening to information, it becameever more difficult not to stop for acoffee.

THURSDAY

Free morning to enjoy sunshine andgracious Italian outdoor urban living.2pm: Cross-city trek with Daniella atlight-infantry pace. Long galleriesfilled with permutations of Madonnaand Child. Some fell out into café orbar, to rendezvous in the main squareat 6.15. A number of us dined at anexcellent fish restaurant anddiscovered Brolettino, a deliciouswhite wine.

FRIDAY

Across the Po valley to Ravenna, lastgesture of the western Roman empire,a city of sublime artistic achievementwhich has survived miraculously for1500 years: San Vitale, Sant’Apollinare, with the Mausoleum ofGalla Placidia as the climax. Our guideVerdiana Conti Baglione, a woman ofmature years, charm, with a love andknowledge of buildings, mosaics andfrescoes, set an easier pace – her firstaction was to guide us to a café beforestarting out. We admired her casualdismissal of the hapless young manwho attempted to limit to ten minutesour visit to the Mausoleum.

The guide told us in advance that wewould get a surprise in the Basilica ofSan Vitale. In every direction there arerich mosaics, naïve in execution butwith an amazing impact. In the midstof all this splendour came our surprise.

‘The mosaics of the Emperor Justinian with his court and the Empress Theodorawith her ladies…are surely some of the most compelling ever made.’– James Bankier’s observation in the Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna.

The above detail shows Theodora. Photo: Adrian Fletcher, paradoxplace.com.

If it’s Friday it must be Ravenna

Singer Marjory Gray charms her impromptuaudience in the Basilica di San Vitale

The Thinker – Douglas Forbes, ponderingbelow the statue of Savonarola in Ferrara.

Or is he just grateful for the rest?

Not the men of the Art Club party waiting patiently for lunch, but a line-up of Sicilianson holiday in Mantova. Photo: Charles Anderson

Alfresco refreshment in Bologna