Scottish Mother and Child
John Bellany
2005 oil on canvas

John Bellany is an internationally respected artist whose dark symbolism and expressionist techniques communicate his desire to create art relevant and moving to ordinary people. He was born in the fishing village of Port Seton and studied at the Edinburgh College of Art. There he won an Andrew Grant Scholarship taking him to Paris where he particularly admired Gustav Courbet’s paintings for their socialist undertones and began to reject the ‘belle peinture’ of the Edinburgh School.

His early work was based on the fishing lifestyle of Port Seton but gradually became more symbolic, linking his own experiences to themes of religion or mythology. Bellany and Alexander Moffat adopted a ‘manifesto-position’ on figurative painting, choosing to work against what they saw as the lack of humanity in modern art. They felt they were connected to the expressionist tradition of Bosch, Breugel, Courbet, Munch and the German Expressionists. Bellany’s paintings grew more sinister and radical in the 60s and 70s, with birds, fish and animals being used to represent death, guilt and sexual obsession and acidic colours and broad brushwork almost approaching abstraction. The 1980s were a time of serious illness for Bellany but he continued to work, with his paintings still evoking symbolism but moving away from his experimental techniques.

‘Scottish Mother and Child’ was a gift from Bellany to the medical professionals in Glasgow who cared for him after he suffered a heart attack. It was thought the most appropriate place for the painting was in the College. It is recognisable as a Bellany through its bright colours, typical fishing village subject and most importantly, its use of symbolism, with a fish looming over the woman’s head, suggesting a dark undertone to the painting.