I recently visited Glasgow for a quick visit and had to see some Scottish art while I was there and chose the largest most popular Gallery, which boasts of having some very fine works. The Spanish Baroque style building itself is very impressive but as I approached I saw that a comic art exhibition was on which is not my thing at all, so I really wasn’t sure of what to expect.
…..But it did not disappoint. Lots of Beautiful Arches leading off of a main hall and reception area, really easy to navigate to areas of my interest, firstly painting and also the Glasgow Style Design Gallery. The main foyer hall was splendid with a fantastic installation of ‘Floating Heads’ by the artist Sophie Cave.
Over 50 different heads with accentuated expressions in white are hung from the ceiling at different heights and are lit from underneath from a light box which changes colour occasional highlighting the different emotions they give out, I thought it was a great installation.
I then proceeded to the Glasgow Style Gallery wanting to see some of the work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a must for me being a fan for many years. There I saw furniture, light fittings and decorative panels from the Ingram Street Tearooms designed by Mackintosh in 1900-1912, and a reconstruction of the Ladies. The gallery features furniture, decorative panels and light fittings from the Ingram Street Tearooms, designed by Mackintosh in 1900-1912, and a reconstructed room of the Ladies Luncheon Room. The ‘Wassail’ gesso panel is very typical of Mackintosh’s style created in 1900, very beautiful.
The art collections that I enjoyed were The Glasgow Boys Gallery, The Scottish Colourists Gallery, The French Gallery which features works by Monet, Renoir, Cezanne and Pissaro and the earlier Dutch Gallery of which the highlight for me is, ‘A Man in Armour’ by Rembrandt van Rijn. On the upper Galleries the Painting by Dali ‘Christ of St John of the Cross’ is one of the museums attractions and it stands alone. Seeing this painting so many times in reproduction takes away a little of its wow factor unlike when I saw the pottery of Grayson Perry for the first time. I didn’t realise what I was looking at in the beginning but wow when I saw what was going on in the detail, must take hours of work.
I loved the relaxed atmosphere of the gallery, not being aware that a guard is standing over me while I viewed the art was a refreshing change after the major London galleries.
I had lunch in the gallery restaurant where for the second time in Glasgow saw a contemporary piece of art on the wall of actual concrete forming a pavement and road wall sculpture, and I need to find out more about the artist.
I hope I get the opportunity to revisit, I had a great day, still lots of other interesting things I didn’t see, a great museum.
SHEILA RAVEN 