William Gillies: Modernism and Nation A Royal Scottish Academy Touring Exhibition

To mark the 125th anniversary of Sir William George Gillies RSA (1898-1973) birth and the 50th anniversary of his death, the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is celebrating this Scottish artist with Modernism and Nation, a touring exhibition featuring paintings, drawings, photographs and objects from across his career.
Live Borders are delighted to be working with the RSA to bring this prestigious exhibition to Hawick Museum & Gallery this summer.

Featuring recognised masterpieces such as his Interior (1938), the sublime Nairn Beach and his RSA Diploma Deposit Still Life with Yellow Jug and Striped Cloth, the exhibition gives a detailed insight into the life and work of this renowned artist.

Born in Haddington, Gillies studied at the Edinburgh College of Art. He travelled widely, returning to the college after the First World War as an accomplished artist and tutor where he taught for more than forty years until his retirement as Principal in 1966. Throughout his career, Gillies explored and developed different approaches to his painting, absorbing European modernism and redirecting it through an art that was intimately connected to his life.

Gillies is recognised as one of the most influential Scottish artists of the twentieth century and is said to have shaped modern Scottish painting and inspired generations of artists.

During the run of this touring exhibition at Hawick Museum, exhibitions of work by two Border artists- Claire Beattie and Gary Anderson- will be on show too. Both Beattie and Anderson cite Gillies as having influenced them throughout their careers.

The exhibition is accompanied and inspired by a groundbreaking new book on the artist. William Gillies: Modernism and Nation in British Art by Andrew McPherson, published by Edinburgh University Press in partnership with the RSA.