Long time readers of this blog will know of my interest in the International Exhibitions held in Glasgow (1888, 1901,) the Scottish National Exhibition of 1911 and the Empire Exhibition of 1938.

Hence I was delighted to see this painting of the main building by William J Kennedy of the 1901 Exhibition on display at the Hunterian Art Gallery when we visited:-

Charles Rennie Mackintosh submitted designs for some of that Exhibition’s buildings (as well as for the 1911 one) as noted in this :-

And of course this picture of Dumbarton Rock and the River Clyde was irresistible:-

Then there was this one by my favourite impressionist painter, Alfred Sisley, one of a series he painted of the church at Moret:-

Portrait of a child by Henry Rayburn:-

Not to mention a couple of Old Masters, The Entombment by Rembrandt:-

and the one that stood out from across the room, Head of an Old Man by Rubens. It’s absolutely stunning:-

A nice contrast of old and new at the Empire Exhibition, Scotland, 1938 via another Brian Gerald drawn postcard.

The Clachan was a “traditional” Highland village. Like everything else at the 1938 Empire Exhibition it was in the shadow of Tait’s Tower of Empire.

When an Empire Exhibition in Glasgow was first suggested Glaswegians immediately asked that a clachan be one of the exhibits. This is because a previous clachan was one of the great successes at the Scottish National Exhibition held in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow in 1911.