Spotlight on artist Goudie at gallery

Art lovers are reminded that a light is being shone on Paisley artist Alexander Goudie 17 years after his death.

An exhibition will run at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh for most of July.

Gallery director Guy Peploe said: “I believe his work forms a vital, recently overlooked contribution to post-war Scottish art.”

Alexander’s chief legacy is the 54 large works depicting the story of Burns’ Tam o’ Shanter, which are now on display in Ayr after being saved as a collection.

The exhibition, entitled ‘An Artist’s Life, Act 1’, runs at the Dundas Street gallery from July 1-24.

The artist was a plumber’s son and so talented he was given special dispensation to leave Paisley Grammar early to head to the Glasgow School of Art.

Guy said: “No project was too grand – a commission for all the artwork and designs for the interiors of a giant ship from Brittany Ferries, Strauss’s Salome or Burns’ Tam o’Shanter.

“The artist thought big, but honed his aesthetic to the last flourish, for a highlight on a ceramic jug or vital pentimento in a life drawing.

“His attention to detail was obsessive and his art was an extension of his personality.”

The exhibition reveals an unseen archive of sketches and paintings which Alexander produced in France and the décor of the 25,000 ton Brittany Ferries flagship, Bretagne.

Later, he would paint The Queen, Billy Connolly and business tycoons.

Alexander enjoyed being flamboyant and confrontational and he was one of a generation of influential painters who graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in the 1950s.

A 2024 exhibition will consider his later career and bigger theatrical projects. Find out more here: https:// scottish-gallery.co.uk/artist/ alexander-goudie