The Hunterian Art Gallery has undergone a spring revamp.
Visitors this Easter can see over 200 artworks spanning seven centuries in a new-look main gallery.
Many of the works have never been on show before or have been hidden from view for a number of years.
The artworks will be presented under new themes such as ‘What Makes a Portrait’, ‘Colour and Light, Art and Science’ and ‘Art Across Borders’.
The new presentations will ask questions and invite discussion while displaying the University of Glasgow’s collection in a new light.
First time
Women will be heavily represented, with 25 female artists including Bessie MacNicol, Phoebe Traquair, Joan Eardley, Victoria Dubourg, Helen Frankenthaler, Marie-Louise von Motesiczky and Christine Borland.
Works on view for the first time will include Gouffres Amers (1939) by English surrealist artist Ithell Colquhoun, Memories of the Sea (1936) by Josephine Haswell Miller, The Puppet Maker (1978) by James Cumming, and a rare, possibly unique impression of the print Sunday Afternoon (1941) by African American artist Dox Thrash.
A statement about the displays reads: “Looking from new perspectives as opposed to a traditional historical narrative, the displays will ask questions such as: How do art and history influence each other? What can one picture tell us? What counts as art? How are artworks made?
The displays will also highlight a number of works that have not been on view for a number of years including Boite d'Allumettes (1963) by French Haitian artist Herve Telemaque and Sea Devil's Watchtower (1960) by Alan Davie.
Hunterian Art Gallery
“The displays will also highlight a number of works that have not been on view for a number of years including Boite d'Allumettes (1963) by French Haitian artist Herve Telemaque, Sea Devil's Watchtower (1960) by Alan Davie, one of Scotland's most important modernist painters, A Paris Street by Scottish Colourist Samuel John Peploe and The Great Honey Coloured Moon (c.1911) by Glasgow Girl Jessie Marion King.
"Also featured will be artworks that have undergone intense conservation, giving them a new lease of life, such as John Hoyland’s 18-6-69 and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh’s stunning gesso panel The White Rose and the Red Rose, which has not been on display since 2016."
Regular visitors will still be able to see favourite works including A Lady Taking Tea by Jean-Simeon Chardin (once voted Glasgow’s second favourite painting), Les Eus by John Duncan Fergusson and a number of works by Whistler, the Scottish Colourists and the Glasgow Boys.
The Hunterian Art Gallery, a much-loved venue in the west end of Glasgow, is home to the University of Glasgow’s extensive art collection which includes paintings of international importance, the largest print collection in Scotland, a growing contemporary art collection and an outdoor sculpture courtyard.
The iconic building was designed by William Whitfield and Partners and constructed between 1973 and 1981.
It is an outstanding example of the architectural style known as brutalism, with its blocky shapes and walls of raw, ridged concrete.
