2015 marks 50 years since the death of Anne Redpath, one of Scotland’s most beloved painters. To mark this milestone The Scottish Gallery is to present a major exhibition with works spanning her entire career.

Redpath was the pivotal figure in the group of painters now referred to as The Edinburgh School, which included artists such as Sir William Gillies, Sir Robin Philipson and Sir William MacTaggart. She was an inspirational person and formed many enduring friendships throughout her life. Her flat in London Street became an artistic salon, immortalised by Philipson’s affectionate group portrait now in collection of The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. She was the first ever female painter to be elected a member of The Royal Scottish Academy, which she was awarded in 1952.

Like most of the Edinburgh School painters she divided her output between oil and working on paper, valuing each the same. Latterly in her flowers, townscapes and church interiors her treatment of the canvas became more abstract as she abandoned traditional spatial composition. Her technique developed also, employing the palette knife as much as the brush and using rich and brilliant colour. Since her death in 1965 her reputation has been further enhanced with retrospectives including an exhibition at The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1996.

This exhibition features early Italian works, from her travelling scholarship in 1919, as well as later works from France, Portugal, Scotland and the Canary Islands. Redpath is considered one of the great figures in 20th Century Scottish Painting and we are delighted to be celebrating this significant anniversary with a large presentation of her work.