The Collector's Art

Ian Fleming: Thistles in the Sun

This exhibition showcases works from two private collections featuring prints, drawings and paintings of British and German art of the late 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Joan Eardley, J.D. Fergusson, Ian Fleming, Emil Orlik, Barbara Rae and Frances Walker.

Divided into two sections, each collection takes on a unique quality and speaks of its collector. These selections have not been chosen from a wide pool of works by a curator, but rather through a set of personal choices, tastes and motives. In a small accompanying catalogue each collector gives a personal account of how they started acquiring works and how their collections were built up. They explain how they go about collecting and because they decided to stay anonymous it provides a certain prompt for the viewer to ponder what it means to be a collector.

Varying in styles from Scottish landscapes to German Expressionism, treats include work by Max Pechstein, Max Beckmann and Käthé Kollwitz. In Kollwitz’ striking etching Downtrodden Family, dated 1900, a family of three is portrayed huddled together. The father is hiding his face whilst holding out a noose to his wife who in turn is looking down at their young child’s fragile, lifeless yet angelic face between the mother’s hands. Kollwitz found her subject matter in the compelling lives of Berlin’s proletariat.

This eclectic salon-style show is bound to have something that tickles your fancy.

The Hunterian Gallery, Glasgow, until Sat 9 Jan

More: Visual art, Previews (Visual art), Barbara Rae, Emil Orlik, Frances Walker, Ian Fleming, J.D. Fergusson, Joan Eardley, Käthé Kollwitz, Max Beckmann, Max Pechstein, The Collector's Art

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