Perth galleries

A brand new museum opened in Perth last year. Based within the old City Hall, the facility showcases local history and also houses the fabled Stone of Destiny. Meanwhile, the old premises have been rebranded as Perth Art Gallery. Both buildings are currently hosting interesting exhibitions and I took a drive up to the Fair City with my mum. We parked in the Canal Street multi-storey (free on Sundays) and walked the short distance to the museum.

I have written about the history of the City Hall and the original museum building in previous posts. We were in town today to view a special display about Macbeth - both the Shakespeare play and the actual King of Scots who bore the same name and reigned almost 1000 years ago. Admission was a reasonable £7, with concessions admitted for a fiver. We took the lift up to the top floor and entered the exhibition. The eponymous stage character is not considered to be historically accurate and the play draws heavily on Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland - a popular history published in the 16th century. The author made use of texts from previous centuries, each with their own cultural context and political agenda. After centuries of retelling and creative additions, the bard's sources were far removed from the reality of the monarch who reigned from 1040 until 1057. Macbeth's troops did defeat King Duncan in battle but this apparently led to a peaceful changeover, unlike the increasingly desperate acts the dramatic character resorts to in order to retain power. The play opens with Macbeth receiving a prophecy from three witches on a misty moor. They inform the general that he will one day become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred on by his wife, Macbeth commits regicide and takes the throne for himself. Racked with guilt and paranoia, he commits further murders to protect his position, becoming a tyrant in the process. The bloodbath leads to insanity and finally death for the royal couple. A classic example of a Shakespearean tragedy. The playwright's career coincided with the Union of the Crowns, when King James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603. Shakespeare realised the importance of getting the new dual monarch on side and it was no secret that James harboured a great interest in the supernatural. Shakespeare was an old hand at securing royal favour and there is little doubt that Macbeth was written with James's Scottish background and fixation with witchcraft in mind. The work is thought to have been first performed in 1606. Theatre superstition has led to actors refusing to utter the real title, lest a curse be unleashed, referring instead to the Scottish Play. It continues to be performed all over the world. Dame Judy Dench (pictured above), memorably played Lady Macbeth in a 1970s production. We found the exhibition very interesting and some of the adjunctive tales were fascinating, such as the gruesome witch trials in North Berwick and Crook of Devon. As we had seen the permanent museum displays less than a year ago, we moved on to the newly launched Perth Art Gallery, a few streets away. The building dates from 1824 and until recently housed both historical artefacts and paintings. The empty space created by the establishment of the new museum has been filled by transferring the Fergusson collection from its own premises by the river.

John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961) was part of a four-person art collective known as the Scottish Colourists. The other members were Samuel Peploe, Leslie Hunter and Francis Cadell. Their prolific output spanned four decades, from the turn of the 20th century to the outbreak of WW2. Although not a homogenous movement, the group shared a common interest in French artistic developments and dabbled with different styles such as Cubism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Futurism. Growing up in Edinburgh, Fergusson enrolled at the Trustees Academy but became disenchanted with the rigid teaching style. He travelled to Morocco, Spain and France, where he met future Colourist Peploe. In Paris, Fergusson mingled with greats such as Picasso and Matisse in the café culture the city was renowned for at the time. By the 1920s, Fergusson was settled in a London studio. He subsequently moved back to Paris with his partner, the dancer and choreographer Margaret Morris, where they lived until the spectre of war across Europe once again loomed large. This prompted a relocation to Glasgow, where the couple resided for the rest of their lives, although they never married. Morris ran several dance schools and staged theatre productions. She also painted and one of her works is pictured above. Café Crystal, from 1920. She and Fergusson thrived on the lively bohemian culture in Paris and they continued their social activities on the Glasgow scene, forming the New Art Clun in 1940. This gave independent artists the opportunity to meet, debate and exhibit together. Morris founded the Celtic Ballet Club - a precursor to the Scottish National Ballet. The couple encouraged the revival of indigenous culture and the Fergusson painting Danu, Mother of the Gods, places Morris in this role. The Celtic deity is situated against the rocks and mountains on the Isle of Mull. Fergusson passed away in 1961 and Morris outlived him for almost 20 years. Her foundation gifted a large body of Fergusson's work to Perth & Kinross Council in 1991 and the Fergusson Gallery opened in the Fair City the following year. Housed within an A-listed waterworks building by the River Tay, one of Scotland's most significant industrial monuments. A sandstone cylinder supported a large cast-iron tank and the structure was topped by a striking dome. Completed in 1832, the tower fed fresh water around the city by gravity through a network of pipes. Although architecturally stunning, the building wasn't the ideal place to hang paintings as the metal roof made it difficult to regulate the temperature within. The collection was moved to Perth Art Gallery last year, where it now forms a permanent display. Fergusson's parents both hailed from the Big County.

We explored the other halls inside the pre-Victorian building. I noted a work by Joan Eardley, who famously depicted poverty and street children within the inner parts of Glasgow during the early part of her (sadly short) career. She later moved to the northeast of Scotland and became known for painting seascapes, before succumbing to breast cancer aged just 42. Another piece that caught my eye was a grotesque woodcut by Glasgow-born Peter Howson. His work embodies dark themes and he was appointed as the official war artist for the brutal Balkans conflict of the 1990s. Sculpture was also represented and the Trojan Unicorn Destiny was created for the first special exhibition at Peth Museum. The project was developed in conjunction with local LGBTQ+ communities and the huge wooden artwork (with flashing rainbow horn) signifies a place of sanctuary for people who cannot live as their true selves, for fear of persecution. Those inside the body of the unicorn come in earnest pursuit of acceptance, understanding and equality. But there is a long way to go until they can emerge without fear. A double dose of culture for us today. The Fair City continues to impress.