| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Kenneth Morrison
Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 7755
Location: Rockcliffe Dalbeattie
|
 Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 4:44 pm Post subject: Royal Scottish Academy |
 |
|
I've run across a report of a meeting of Stewartry County Council held in early 1919 where
"It was agreed to ask Major Maxwell to act as the Council's representative on the General Committee of the Royal Scottish Academy to co-operate with regard to the erection of war memorials in Scotland"
Anyone know the function of this committee?
_________________
Ken |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
kinnethmont
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1649
Location: Aberdeenshire
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Ken
They put together details of a number of possible ideas/ proposals drawings for War Memorials of all types and purposes.
It was merely a sort of acedemic " think tank " to give ideas on how memorialisation could be carried out on differing scales.
A similar arrangement took place in England.
_________________
Jim
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
www.kinnethmont.co.uk |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Adam Brown
Curator
Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 7312
Location: Edinburgh (From Sutherland)
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Ken
The Scottish War Memorials Advisory Panel was set up on 29th January 1919. It was led by the Royal Scottish Academy as an advisory authority for war memorial committees looking for guidance. The RSA were worried that uneducated amatuers would blot the Scottish landscape with vulgar memorials and so put themselves forward as experts to help war memorial committees select suitable public monuments.
There was an exhibition in Summer of 1919 in the National Gallery of Scotland of war memorial designs.
On 9th March 1921 it was dissolved. In over two years they had advised a staggering 150 communities and organisations.
How did the other thousands of war memorial committees across the country manage without them?
I think it shows how many people felt so strongly about their memorials. It wasn't for arty toffs in Edinburgh to tell them how they should commemorate their own war dead.
Thanks
Adam |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DerekR
Moderator
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 3013
Location: Hawick, Scotland
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Interestingly, the bronze figure entitled ‘Youth’, by the sculptor A.J.Leslie of London, which became the focal point for the war memorial in Hawick, was first exhibited in the Royal Academy in London and thereafter in the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.
| Quote: | | The RSA were worried that uneducated amatuers would blot the Scottish landscape with vulgar memorials and so put themselves forward as experts to help war memorial committees select suitable public monuments. |
The unelected and largely unrepresentative Hawick Memorial committee was told that the statue would provide the perfect centrepiece and focal point for the subject of a war memorial and they agreed to buy the statue for the town for £750.
When a photograph of the purchased ‘Youth’ appeared in the Hawick newspapers as the centre piece for the War Memorial, those members of the memorial committee who had apparently acted out of good faith, were subjected to an unprecedented attack from all quarters of the Hawick community.
The design of the Memorial caused great friction in the immediate post-war period in Hawick. The naked figure of "Youth" causing most concern.
" yin o’ th’ biggest acts o’ public indecency that has been perpetrated on th’ community for th’ last forty years.’"
A bereaved mother wrote in a letter to the ‘Hawick Express’ that:
‘How can any pure minded mother with her daughters, suffering under the tender emotions of distress, gaze upon this nudity?’
_________________
Time but th' impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
DerekR
Moderator
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 3013
Location: Hawick, Scotland
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Adam Brown wrote: | In over two years they had advised a staggering 150 communities and organisations.
|
Apart from Hawick, which other communities in Scotland were advised by the General Committee of the Royal Scottish Academy?
_________________
Time but th' impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ADP
Joined: 13 Jun 2008
Posts: 467
Location: Edinburgh
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 10:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
From The Scotsman, Monday 31st March 1919.
MEMORANDUM OF SCOTTISH WAR MEMORIALS ADVISOR COMMITTEE.
We are requested to state that copies of the Memorandum on War Memorials will be sent to the convenors of local committees on application to the secretary, Scottish War Memorials Advisory Committee, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.
Advert in The Scotsman, Wednesday 16th July 1919.
EXHIBITION OF WAR MEMORIALS
An exhibition of examples of memorials
erected in the past and designs and models by
contemporary artists will be held in the National
Gallery, Edinburgh, during the month of July.
Open same hours and on same conditions as National Gallery.
SCOTTISH WAR MEMORIALS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY, EDINBURGH
ADP |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kinnethmont
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1649
Location: Aberdeenshire
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: | How did the other thousands of war memorial committees across the country manage without them?
I think it shows how many people felt so strongly about their memorials. It wasn't for arty toffs in Edinburgh to tell them how they should commemorate their own war dead. |
Many communities had dealt with the subject of a War Memorial long before this group was created, a fair number of the memorials being in place for Armistice Day 1919. Thoughts turned to the subject following the great losses suffered by Scots units in 1915-1916.
_________________
Jim
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
www.kinnethmont.co.uk |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Adam Brown
Curator
Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 7312
Location: Edinburgh (From Sutherland)
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:09 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Can't think why this old thread from this time last year sprang back to mind. 
Adam |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
apanderson
Administrator
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 2571
Location: Stirlingshire
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
You're a rascal Adam Brown!!
Anne  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kinnethmont
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1649
Location: Aberdeenshire
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:58 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: | | Can't think why this old thread from this time last year sprang back to mind. |
Nor can I !!
They were at work before the memorials were erected, not after. Surely they must have records, where communities took on their ideas.
_________________
Jim
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
www.kinnethmont.co.uk |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Adam Brown
Curator
Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 7312
Location: Edinburgh (From Sutherland)
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Good thinking about the RSA archives Jim. I have looked at their website
http://www.royalscottishacademy.org/pages/histframeset.html
The Royal Scottish Academy archive contains documents pertaining to the RSA as an organisation such as the Minute Books of Council and Assemblies, the Registers of the RSA Life School and photographs of many of its members. The archive also includes an extensive letter collection, dating from 1826 onwards. In addition the archive holds documents relating to other Edinburgh based art organisations, such as the Academy of St. Luke and the Society of Artists, and also an extensive collection of letters, documents, photographs and memorabilia relating to the painter, William Gillies.
The Royal Scottish Academy library, archive and art collections may be consulted by researchers on weekdays, 10.00 - 13.00 and 14.00 - 16.30. Space is extremely limited and it is essential to make an appointment in advance by writing to the RSA, The Dean Gallery, 73 Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3DS. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
