On the walls of Lamb House, Rye, were a couple of paintings of interest.

The first was of the house itself, showing how it looked before the Music Room was destroyed in World War 2:-

The second was a street view from one of the windows painted by Beatrix Potter:-

I took this photo of the same view. Note the twisted chimney on the building which partly obscures St Mary’s Church:-

This is from street level:-

Closer view:-

Reverse view:-

I confess I had never heard of Josa Maria Eça de Queiroz (or José Maria Eça de Queirós) – the full name of the Portuguese author one of whose books I am reading at the moment (see sidebar until I move on to another book) – until earlier this year when we attended an exhibition of the paintings of Portuguese artist Paula Rego at the Modern Two part of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. In the gallery shop my eye was taken by copies of de Queirós’s The Crime of Father Amaro (an alternative title) whose cover (see below, left) incorporated one of Rego’s paintings. I had never read any Portuguese literature so took note of the book, but not so much as to make a purchase there and then as I wanted to find out more about the author first. de Queirós turns out to be one of Portugal’s most respected writers and there are several editions of this book in translation besides the one I bought.

So it was that earlier this year on coming across a copy of The Sin of Father Amaro in my favourite second hand bookshop – Bouquiniste, in St Andrews since you ask – at a bargain price, I could not pass up the chance to sample de Queirós’s work. I must say though, that the covers of most editions do give the game away somewhat as to what the nature of Amaro’s crime – or sin; take your pick – might be. They leave nothing to the imagination. In fact only the Rego cover doesn’t. The others are also more than a little misleading in that the female character they attempt to depict is far from the apparent temptress that especially the right hand one might suggest.

Dining room:-

Ceiling of Library (formerly the servant’s Hall)

Window recess, Library. Note thickness of the wall, for defensive purposes:-

The muniments room was where the owner did his accounts and doled out money. The chair is said to be very old:-

Door to sitting room:-

Sitting room:-

Sitting room fireplace:-

Sitting room ceiling:-

van Dyk portrait of King Charles I in Drum Castle. Sadly photo did not turn out well:-

Bedroom:-

War Death Commemoration, Chapel, Drum Castle. Lieutenant Robert Hugh Irvine, the Gordon Highlanders, aged 22 years, killed at Singapore, 13/2/1942:-

This Oak Room was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Miss Cranston’s Tea Rooms, Ingram Street, Glasgow.

After those tea rooms closed for business the room was for many years stored by Glasgow Corporation and then Glasgow Museums.

The construction of the V&A Dundee provided a space for the rooms to be on show to the public once more.

Since Falkland is only about four miles from Son of the Rock Acres I was interested in this picture of Falkland Palace as it looked in mediæval times:-

Eduardo Paolozzi designed case for storing catalogues for Nairn Floors Ltd:-

Turkey Red Designs:-

Geometric brooches:-

“Butterfly” Tiara:-

Further to my post on Abbotsford, Walter Scott must be one of the few writers to have such a legacy, which I mentioned here.

In the section of the new V&A Dundee (posts passim) devoted to Scottish design there is a model of the Scott Monument the original of which stands in Princes Street, Edinburgh.

Model of Scott Monument:-

There is also a Robert Adam chimneypiece:-

Some Arts & Crafts furniture:-

A brooch designed to resemble a galaxy:-

A poster for the Festival of Britain‘s Industrial Light and Power Exhibition at the Kelvin Hall Glasgow:-

And a bookcase/cabinet by George Logan:-

Brantwood is the art critic John Ruskin‘s home above Coniston Water, now a centre for the arts.

Entrance:-

It’s an idiosyncratic building with several sticky-out bits:-

It has a magnificent situation with great views of the lake:-

and of the Old Man of Coniston:-

Sad, sad news.

Alasdair Gray has died.

If he had never done anything else in his life his first novel Lanark (arguably four novels) would have made him the most important Scottish writer of the twentieth century’s latter half, if not the whole century. (Perhaps only Lewis Grassic Gibbon rivals him in that respect.)

But of course he published 8 more novels, the last of which I read in 2009, 4 books of short stories – see this review of one of them – 3 of poetry (I reviewed a couple here and here,) many pieces for theatre, radio and television plus books of criticism (as here) and commentary (eg see here).

Yet that was not the least of it. There is also his work as an artist and illustrator to take into account. His drawing/painting style was unique and uniquely recognisable; much admired and sought after.

A polymath and curmudgeon, learned and contrary, Gray was one of a kind.

Even as his work lives on we will miss his acerbic presence.

And I still have his The Book of Prefaces to peruse.

Alasdair Gray: 28/12/1934 – 29/12/2019. So it goes.

An Art Deco department store in Liverpool.

This picture is from Wikipedia:-

The building is known as “Dickie” Lewis or “Nobby” Lewis due to the nude statue by Jacob Epstein more properly known as Liverpool Resurgent. Again the photo is from Wikipedia:-

Unfortunately my own photograph (taken from the tour bus) was shot into the sun, hence the two above:-

Also at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s Modern One (until 28^th October) is the above titled exhibition featuring the work of Raqib Shaw.

Apparently he could not afford oil paints so started to use enamels. This gives his work the appearance of huge but intricately decorated ceramic tiles. Some of it is a bit “bling”y for me but the effect can be stunning and the detail is extraordinary particularly in the circular area of his reinvention of the Cranach. The reproductions here do not convey just how shiny his pictures are.

To do this must be so time consuming even if he does have assistants to help. I left wondering how on earth he could make a living doing this. Unless every (enamel? can you really call them paintings?) sells for tens of thousands of pounds.

Shaw speaks for himself here:-