IRVINE’S Scottish Maritime Museum will unveil a remarkable new national art collection next month.

The exhibition, featuring works by artists such as FCB Cadell, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Muirhead Bone, Kate Downie and John Bellany will open on Friday, June 1.

‘Maritime Perspectives: Collecting Art of a Seafaring Nation’, which will run at the Scottish Maritime Museum on the Harbourside until Sunday, October 21, will be the first full showing for the new art collection which captures life along Scotland’s coastline in all its grit and glory.

The exhibition will feature over 100 works gathered for the collection over the last three years through SMMart, an ambitious project to create a nationally significant art collection to enrich the nationally recognised maritime heritage at the Museum.

The SMMart project, which was made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme, with further support from Art Fund and the National Fund for Acquisitions, has been led by the Museum’s first Curator of Art, Fiona Greer. Fiona’s appointment was also made possible by the award from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme.

‘Maritime Perspectives: Collecting Art of a Seafaring Nation’ will feature the oldest painting acquired to date, ‘On the Clyde’ painted by James Francis Williams in 1830, through to early 21st century pieces. Together, the works exploit a wide range of mediums from oil painting, watercolour, sketching and photography through to sculpture and mixed media.

Striking scenes from the heavy industries of oil and shipbuilding will sit side by side with tranquil scenes of fishing boats and travel posters promoting days out ‘doon the watter’. Haunting memorials to lives lost on dangerous seas in both war and peacetime will juxtapose with island seascapes.

As part of a new Art Fund RA250 programme celebrating works by Royal Academician artists, the exhibition will also feature a display of recently acquired works by William Lionel Wyllie RA including ‘The Grand Fleet in the Firth of Forth’ after the Armistice.

David Mann, Director of the Scottish Maritime Museum, said: “We are delighted to unveil a new, exciting and eclectic art collection of national standing.

“The new art collection adds great depth, colour and interpretation to our fascinating maritime heritage collection here at the Museum.

“We look forward to developing the new collection over coming years both as an added attraction for visitors coming to experience the maritime heritage as well as those coming to explore it in its own right.”

Fiona Greer, Curator of Art, Scottish Maritime Museum, adds:

“A vivid portrayal of life for those living and working around Scotland’s coastline, ‘Maritime Perspectives: Collecting Art of a Seafaring Nation’ will evoke a host of emotions.

“The beauty and brutality of life in the shipyards of the West of Scotland is writ large, for example, with ‘Building a Liner at Greenock’ by Muirhead Bone; ‘Figure of a Shipbuilder’ by Benno Schotz; and ‘The Hole Borer’ by Tom McKendrick. Who couldn’t be moved too looking upon the last remaining remnants of ‘Paper Boat’, George Wyllie’s monumental sculptural memorial to Glasgow’s lost shipbuilding industry.

“Looking to the East coast, the vibrant, uplifting colours of ‘The Dawn Pearl at Port Seton Harbour’, one of John Bellany’s more traditional works, contrast with the hues of stormy seas and haunting war scenes in ‘The Grand Fleet in the Firth of Forth’ after the Armistice by William Lionel Wyllie. Drawn from rare female residencies on oil platforms in the North Sea, ‘Aberdeen Harbour’ by Sue Jane Taylor and ‘Mural Design No.1’ by Kate Downie capture the elemental energy of life on the rigs.

“Taking in the Islands, Orkney artist Sylvia Wishart’s ‘Trawler 1’ evokes the sadness of shipwreck waters and Frances Walker’s ‘Leaving Roan’ pictures the Pentland Firth island once alive with inhabitants now deserted. Will Maclean’s ‘Black Vessel Foundering’ remembers the terrible conditions for emigrants leaving Scottish waters in the 19th century, here the Exmouth Castle which wrecked off Islay in 1847 with 254 lives lost.

“The world-renowned sailing waters off the West of Scotland are captured beautifully by FCB Cadell in ‘The Pier at Cove - Loch Long’, a rare example of his works to feature a boat, and a series of expressive travel posters. Altogether, the exhibition is a unique and rewarding voyage on Scottish waters.”

Lucy Casot, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, says:

“It’s thanks to players of the National Lottery that these diverse artworks have been brought together to form a new national collection. Not only are they individually important pieces, but together they tell a fascinating story of coastal life around Scotland which is sure to delight visitors from near and far.”

Dr Hazel Williamson, National Fund for Acquisitions Manager, adds:

“This exhibition brings together a wonderful collection of maritime art. We are very pleased that the National Fund for Acquisitions has been able to assist the development of that collection through financial support for several of the acquisitions.”

‘Maritime Perspectives: Collecting Art of a Seafaring Nation’ will go on show across the Scottish Maritime Museum’s vast, A listed Linthouse, itself a former shipyard building. The exhibition follows ‘Shipyard’, a major exhibition by Scottish artist and broadcaster Lachlan Goudie, which ran at the Museum until February this year.