{"id":53553,"date":"2024-12-19T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/?p=53553"},"modified":"2024-12-20T15:57:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T15:57:32","slug":"barbara-rae-the-winter-traveller-at-dundas-st-gallery-edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/barbara-rae-the-winter-traveller-at-dundas-st-gallery-edinburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbara Rae: The Winter Traveller at Dundas St Gallery Edinburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Barbara Rae<\/strong> CBE RA is a most distinguished Scottish painter and printmaker, whose acclaimed narrative landscapes are conveyed through her vivacious use of colour, composition and line.&nbsp;With a passion for travel, Rae always selects places that provide first-hand insight into cultural heritage, from Celtic archaeology to old vineyards in Spain, exploring the world in search of inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the summer of 2024, <em>Times and Places<\/em>, an archival retrospective<em> [<a href=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/now-is-the-time-barbara-rae-at-the-maclaurin-gallery-ayr\/\">see Artmag&#8217;s post<\/a>] <\/em>was staged at The Maclaurin Art Gallery<strong>,<\/strong> Ayr and now at Inverness Museum &amp; Art gallery, until 18<sup>th<\/sup> January 2025. The catalogue essay by Professor Duncan Macmillan describes how Rae has perceived the notion of \u2018Place\u2019 throughout her career and continues to record the memory of the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-DSG-gallery-view-Copy-1024x956.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53559 lazyload\"\/><noscript><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"956\" src=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-DSG-gallery-view-Copy-1024x956.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53559 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-DSG-gallery-view-Copy-1024x956.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-DSG-gallery-view-Copy-480x448.jpg 480w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-DSG-gallery-view-Copy-150x140.jpg 150w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-DSG-gallery-view-Copy-768x717.jpg 768w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-DSG-gallery-view-Copy.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Gallery view<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Winter Showcase at the Dundas Street Gallery features enticing small prints and paintings by Barbara Rae on her journeys to the Lammermuir hills and Andalucia and from Pole to Pole. All purchases will benefit The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.provostjamesraetrust.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Provost James Rae Trust<\/a>, established to administer the Barbara Rae archive, named in tribute to the artist\u2019s father. The Trust raises funds to help mid-career artists for specific projects and also invitations to attend the Ballinglen Residency, Ballycastle, County Mayo, Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This collection illustrates with such clarity a journey of travel, exploration and discovery through a unique style of abstract expressionist art.&nbsp;Akin to the eminent 18<sup>th<\/sup> and 19<sup>th<\/sup> century Scots David Roberts and Arthur Melville, who observed local life in Spain, Egypt, Holy Land and Morocco, Barbara Rae is an intrepid traveller artist:&nbsp;<em>&#8216;I hate being called a landscape painter. There has to be a story.&nbsp;Topography is not the attraction; people and the history of the location <\/em>is<em> the motivation<\/em>.<em> Research is the key. My inspiration is socio-political, I record the passage of time. I refine and refine. To do that, I visit a place for weeks, sketching and taking notes, and only later begin creating paintings or prints in my studio from the sketches.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2015 Barbara began a series of journeys of discovery into the Arctic, following in the wake of her namesake, the pioneer explorer Dr John Rae.\u00a0<em>The Northwest Passage<\/em> was an awe-inspiring exhibition at the RSA, immersing the viewer in icy seas amid traces of human presence and the passing of time.\u00a0As well as vibrant scenes <em>Arctic Dusk <\/em>and <em>Arctic Evening<\/em>, with a burst of northern light, there\u2019s a magnificent \u2018portrait,\u2019 a woodcut of <em>Lone Bear Cresswell 3, <\/em>prowling in the cool blue glistening ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Arctic-travels-Lone-Bear-right-hand-side-Copy-1024x749.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53555 lazyload\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"749\" src=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Arctic-travels-Lone-Bear-right-hand-side-Copy-1024x749.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53555 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Arctic-travels-Lone-Bear-right-hand-side-Copy-1024x749.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Arctic-travels-Lone-Bear-right-hand-side-Copy-480x351.jpg 480w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Arctic-travels-Lone-Bear-right-hand-side-Copy-150x110.jpg 150w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Arctic-travels-Lone-Bear-right-hand-side-Copy-768x562.jpg 768w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Arctic-travels-Lone-Bear-right-hand-side-Copy.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>&#8216;Lone Bear&#8217; (right)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Observing and understanding the life and nature of the landscape are the starting-point before an intense creative process in the studio; paint, colour and collage enhance the contours of terrain, light, shade and texture to imbue a lyrical sense of place. A realistic, visual scene is transformed into a moody scenic expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is illustrated beautifully in a screenprint, <em>Carrowteige <\/em>(County Mayo), a precisely-designed patchwork of orange, turquoise, pink and black stripes and blocks, perhaps depicting a geometric panorama of fields, lake, hills and sky framed by the bold horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Winter-Showcase-at-Dundas-Street-Gallery-Carrowteige-in-centre-Copy-1024x824.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53556 lazyload\" style=\"width:1200px;height:auto\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"824\" src=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Winter-Showcase-at-Dundas-Street-Gallery-Carrowteige-in-centre-Copy-1024x824.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53556 lazyload\" style=\"width:1200px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Winter-Showcase-at-Dundas-Street-Gallery-Carrowteige-in-centre-Copy-1024x824.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Winter-Showcase-at-Dundas-Street-Gallery-Carrowteige-in-centre-Copy-480x386.jpg 480w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Winter-Showcase-at-Dundas-Street-Gallery-Carrowteige-in-centre-Copy-150x121.jpg 150w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Winter-Showcase-at-Dundas-Street-Gallery-Carrowteige-in-centre-Copy-768x618.jpg 768w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Winter-Showcase-at-Dundas-Street-Gallery-Carrowteige-in-centre-Copy.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Carrowteige<\/em>,<em> centre<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Through a vivid palette and free-flowing composition, the artist has a masterly calligraphic language, fluid, imaginative with collage-like effects and washes for extra depth and dimension.&nbsp;This exhibition offers the rare chance to purchase unique editioned prints and a large selection of unframed pieces with a diverse range of printing techniques, monotypes, etchings, collograph and carborundum. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amongst the enticing selection of unframed works for example, is <em>Sea Ice Bellot Strait, (etching and relief), <\/em>an evocative pattern in orange, pink and grey to depict the whirling dance of ice floes in the remote waters in Nunavut, Canada.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rae\u2019s working methods show the development and distillation of observation, ideas and memories into colours and shapes as she explains, &#8216;<em>There is so much unexpected colour in glaciers, icebergs and icecaps \u2013 strong manganese blues and water a deep indigo. Often I layer 30 to 60 different colours to achieve the print image for surface and texture. I welcome dissonance, that is, unpredictable results<\/em>.&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-Barbara-Rae-paintings-and-prints-Copy-1024x608.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53557 lazyload\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-Barbara-Rae-paintings-and-prints-Copy-1024x608.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53557 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-Barbara-Rae-paintings-and-prints-Copy-1024x608.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-Barbara-Rae-paintings-and-prints-Copy-480x285.jpg 480w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-Barbara-Rae-paintings-and-prints-Copy-150x89.jpg 150w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-Barbara-Rae-paintings-and-prints-Copy-768x456.jpg 768w, https:\/\/artmag.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/winter-showcase-Barbara-Rae-paintings-and-prints-Copy.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Paintings and prints<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The unique beauty of these visual travelogues is based on iconographic artistry to identify and interpret the importance of the place, tracing its lingering sense of history, from the frozen Polar regions to Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Provence, Tuscany and Mexico and beyond. Wherever, each scenic view is bathed in bold, luminous colour with experimental style, vivid imagination and captivating energy in these jazzy, dramatic compositions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The exhibition is attractively displayed, transforming the Gallery into a homely \u2018drawing room\u2019 with sofa and chairs &#8211; relax and study the artwork and collection of Barbara Rae catalogues and books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>With thanks to Vivien Devlin for this review.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b><i>Review<\/i><\/b>: Artist Barbara Rae CBE RA presents a Winter Showcase in aid of the Provost James Rae Trust at Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":53558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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