The McManus : Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum

The exhibition introduces two major acquisitions to Dundee’s collection, the result of two significant but very different partnerships.

Frances Walker is acknowledged as one of Scotland’s finest artists. Inspired by wild and remote places, she captures the edges of civilisation – scenes of rugged coastlines and craggy beaches. She had long wanted to visit the Antarctic and realised her ambition after being presented with the James McBey Travel Award in 2007. The result is a series of paintings in which she evokes the dramatic icescapes of Antarctica. It is the most significant gift by an artist to Dundee’s nationally significant fine art collection for over 25 years.

In 2015 eight ship models and related material, previously owned by the pioneering Dundee, Perth & London Shipping Company Ltd (DP&L) were acquired for the collection. This important acquisition highlights Dundee’s rich shipbuilding and maritime history as well as its important trading and passenger links. Saved for the City with the help of a number of individuals and organisations, these models are a significant addition to the collection.

Suitable for

• Any age

Website

http://www.themcmanus.co.uk

Drawing is one of the most basic and enduring of human activities. It remains one of the simplest and most effective forms of communication requiring only a pencil and paper, stick and sand or crayon and wall. It is little wonder then that drawing includes such a vast and all encompassing range of creativity. The display features figure studies and portraiture, illustration, preparatory sketches, landscape and topography by historic and contemporary artists including Augustus John, Graeme Sutherland, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Will Maclean, Thomas Gainsborough, Amelia Long, William Gillies and Ian Fleming.

Suitable for

• Any age

Admission

Admission Free.

Website

http://www.mcmanus.co.uk

Reflections on Celts is a partnership tour between National Museums Scotland and the British Museum featuring two Iron Age mirrors, which tell very different stories, and help us to understand the relationships between communities in Britain 2,000 years ago.

National Museums Scotland's mirror was discovered at Balmaclellan in Kirkcudbrightshire, south-west Scotland. It was part of a hoard of metalwork wrapped in cloth parcels which was placed in a bog, perhaps as an offering to the gods. Unlike the English mirror, both faces were smooth for reflecting. Decoration is confined to the handle, the shape of which is modelled on Roman vessel handles.

The British Museum's Holcombe mirror, from Devon, south-west England, was uncovered during the excavation of a Late Iron Age settlement which lay beneath a Roman villa. The back of the mirror is engraved with a stunning looped design which perfectly balances engraved motifs with empty space. This was a new style of Celtic art which developed in southern Britain as communities here were coming into closer contact with the Roman world.

The mirrors are supplemented by objects from The McManus' collection which explore the history of the Celts in Dundee and the surrounding area. The McManus display features three key time periods; the Iron Age, Post Roman and the Celtic revival, with a range of objects from Pictish metalwork to items excavated from Hillforts providing an insight into the lives of the people in those periods. Highlights include John Duncan's The Riders of the Sidhe and a replica of the Hunterston Brooch.

The exhibition also showcases a stunning 3D visualisation of the Dundee Law as it would have looked in the Iron Age. This film includes objects unearthed from the Law including Roman pottery, Celtic lamps and a whale bone.

Reflections on Celts at The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum is the last stop on the partnership tour, and is your last chance to see the mirrors together. It opens to the public on Thursday 1 September and runs until Monday 5 December.

The Reflections on Celts tour is generously supported by the Dorset Foundation.

Suitable for

• Any age

Admission

Free.

Website

http://www.mcmanus.co.uk/content/exhibitions/reflections-on-celts