A passion shared is a passion to be loved
A few weeks ago I wrote about a beguiling exhibition of work by the late Norman Gilbert at Glasgow’s Tramway.
Gilbert, who died in 2019 at the age of 93, painted to the end of his long life. His subject matter was people, place, plants and pattern.
He drew inspiration from his immediate world; his family and the wider circle of people who came and went from the family’s home in Pollokshields.
This was an artist who injected a lyrical romantic line into his work. There is an almost graphic, cartoon quality to his paintings. That’s just the way he liked it. If no one else did, that was fine by him. He kept going.
The same can be said of Gilbert’s contemporary, Margot Sandeman (1922-2009), Her art is painterly and poetic, with a romantic softness flowing alongside the lightly applied paint. She often embedded lines of poetry into her canvases.
Like Gilbert, she loved the landscape of Scotland’s west coast. In Sandeman’s case, the island of Arran, which she knew like the back of her hand.
The two painters, whose work flew largely under the radar for much of their long lives, put figures front and centre of all their work. Always slightly detached from each other, yet hyper aware of the proximity of human company.
Gilbert’s work was championed in his twilight years by the Tatha Gallery in Newport-on-Tay. Under its watch, Gilbert’s work gained legions of new fans. For Tatha’s latest exhibition, A Shared Passion, gallery owner Lindsay Bennett, has teamed up with Glasgow’s Gerber Fine Art to pair Gilbert’s work, some of it dating back the 1960s, with paintings by Sandeman.
Both artists shared a passion for paintings. This must-see exhibition puts this twin passion firmly in the spotlight.
A Shared Passion, Tatha Gallery, Newport-onTay, until November 12. Norman Gilbert, Tramway, Glasgow, until February 5