Hundreds attend artist John Bellany’s funeral
by Rory Reynolds
HE was the highly acclaimed painter whose works of art hanging in galleries across the globe portray the weather-beaten and at times grim Scotland that he adored.
HE was the highly acclaimed painter whose works of art hanging in galleries across the globe portray the weather-beaten and at times grim Scotland that he adored.
Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of John Bellany, the East Lothian painter inspired by the tragedies of the fishing community he was raised in.
First Minister Alex Salmond and artists Richard Demarco and John Byrne were among those who paid their respects at a packed funeral service in Edinburgh yesterday.
Bellany died on Wednesday 28 August at his studio aged 71. His family said he was “clutching a paint brush in his hand as he took his final breath”.
His three children paid tribute to their father during the celebration of his life at St Giles’ Cathedral on the city’s Royal Mile.
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BBC broadcaster Baroness Bakewell gave a reading while Mario Conti, Archbishop Emeritus of Glasgow, led the congregation in prayer.
. . . . . .
Alexander Moffat, the Scots artist, delivered the eulogy to his long-time university friend.
. . . .“He said being Scottish has always mattered enormously, I carry Scotland in my soul. Wherever I go and meet people, Family, Port Seton, East Lothian then Scotland are the definition of identity, his sense of nation and a starting point for his dialogue with the countries of the world.”
Afterward, those who attended gathered on Parliament Square to exchange anecdotes from his colourful life.
John Byrne, the playwright and artist, was a friend of Bellany’s since they studied at the Edinburgh School of Art.
........... Bellany’s paintings feature in the collections of galleries including the National Galleries of Scotland, Tate Britain in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was awarded a CBE by the Queen in 1994.
Richard Demarco, the arts impresario and promoter, added: “I knew John all my life, we first met when we were students.
He said: “He recovered the great tradition of European painting that goes back to Rembrandt, where the whole agony of the human experience that can be defined in paint.
“On the other hand he also expressed the joy of being alive in his later works.
“His contribution was enormous and he was single minded in his work.”
He added: “The service here today was among the finest I have seen, with so many from Scottish society here to celebrate his life. “He would have been grateful, and proud.”
aih-art.com/gallery.php?regno=P853 Art in Healthcare
MADONNA OF THE BASS ROCK
by JOHN BELLANY
Madonna of the Bass Rock by John Bellany
Watercolour 1997 90 x 71 cm Reg. Number P853
This striking watercolour portrays the Bass Rock off the coast of North Berwick, an important landmark in Scotland's natural, political and cultural history. The artist, John Bellany, is a native of East Lothian and his work often displays influence from the coast of the Firth of Forth. John has fully used the liquid effect of watercolours to create a violent seascape, with clashing bands of paint forming waves. The artist has chosen a dark, turbulent colour palette, where blues and greens clash with reds and yellows. The pencil outlines of the original image are still visible, even where there is no painted outline, adding to the rough sense of composition. The outlines also provide detail to the elements of the composition, such as the figures in the lower right corner and the details of the rock itself. Instead of using white paint, which would have been difficult in watercolour, the artist has left space blank in order to create white patches and lighting. The eyes of the figures in the foreground have not been created with solid colour, but rather with a series of concentric circles and crosshatches.
The image is highly stylised, with the oversized facial features and irregular outlines typical of John's figurative work which emulates a time in art history before modern perspective became commonplace. The name and subject matter is reminiscent of traditional Christian artwork, a fitting theme given the Bass Rock's history as a Christian hermitage. A Madonna refers to a depiction of the Virgin Mary, often accompanied by the infant Christ, which was a popular subject in medieval icons. This painting has many aspects that refer to traditional iconography, such as the expressions of the foreground figures, which do not reflect human concerns but divine detachment, with the eyes of the mother and child focused on Heaven. The range of yellow and orange paints used to colour their skin reflects the gold of Byzantine icons, and the bright patch in the mother's hair suggests a rudimentary halo. Yet the form is also subverted: the background represents a contemporary seascape. Far from the beatific ideal of the Virgin, this mother is straggling haired, sunken-eyed, and emaciated: she is not a conventional Madonna, but a post-humanist figure, full of mortal frailty. It is her motherhood that is emphasised, not her divinity. The artist himself underwent a liver transplant in 1989 and mortality and human vulnerability became important themes in John's later work as a result.
John Bellany is recognised as one of the most influential post-war Scottish artists. Born in 1942 into a family of fishermen and boat builders in Port Seton, fishing communities and life by the coast have long influenced his work. He attended the Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. His work can be found in the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate Britain in London. In 1994, he received the CBE
The image is highly stylised, with the oversized facial features and irregular outlines typical of John's figurative work which emulates a time in art history before modern perspective became commonplace. The name and subject matter is reminiscent of traditional Christian artwork, a fitting theme given the Bass Rock's history as a Christian hermitage. A Madonna refers to a depiction of the Virgin Mary, often accompanied by the infant Christ, which was a popular subject in medieval icons. This painting has many aspects that refer to traditional iconography, such as the expressions of the foreground figures, which do not reflect human concerns but divine detachment, with the eyes of the mother and child focused on Heaven. The range of yellow and orange paints used to colour their skin reflects the gold of Byzantine icons, and the bright patch in the mother's hair suggests a rudimentary halo. Yet the form is also subverted: the background represents a contemporary seascape. Far from the beatific ideal of the Virgin, this mother is straggling haired, sunken-eyed, and emaciated: she is not a conventional Madonna, but a post-humanist figure, full of mortal frailty. It is her motherhood that is emphasised, not her divinity. The artist himself underwent a liver transplant in 1989 and mortality and human vulnerability became important themes in John's later work as a result.
John Bellany is recognised as one of the most influential post-war Scottish artists. Born in 1942 into a family of fishermen and boat builders in Port Seton, fishing communities and life by the coast have long influenced his work. He attended the Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. His work can be found in the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate Britain in London. In 1994, he received the CBE
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