Nottingham Castle hosts MacBryde and Colquhoun exhibition
Over 100 works chart the rise and struggles of artists Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun, whose success in 1940s London gave way to hardship shaped by war, poverty, and persecution, now explored in a new Nottingham Castle exhibition.
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Nottingham Castle is displaying over 100 works that show the lives and art of Robert MacBryde, Robert Colquhoun, and some of their associates. Curated by Damian Barr, four rooms of their work create a vivid picture of the difficulties the two artists faced despite their well received pieces.
Damian, curator and author of a book on the two artists, said that the two Roberts were briefly the most famous artists in the world. In the 1940s they were a well-known pair in the London art world, with gallery shows that sold out. The Tate acquired a number of their paintings, as did the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
They also worked commercially. One room shows the designs for costumes for the ballet, Donald of the Burthens. Colquhoun illustrated books. The pair - often coming as an inseparable package-deal - worked on designing set dressing.
The exhibition tells of how difficult their life was. Both born around 1914, they entered a world at war, just in time to be of fighting age for the Second World War. Then, living as a besotted couple, at a time when being gay was both unlawful and dangerous in some parts of Scotland and England. Moving to London, they would live through homelessness, after evictions from their home due to their "lifestyle".
The art and curation tell this story as you make your way around, highlighting the drama and distress throughout.
Access to the exhibition is included with the price of a ticket to the Castle, which is £19.80, granting access for a year. The exhibition will run until 6th September, when it will move to the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock where hopefully it will find a much prouder homeland than the two boys ever found for themselves.
