Life drawing from the late William Crosbie RSA (1915 – 1999), photography from David Eustace, and Rebecca Westguard’s highly realistic depictions of the human body, comprise Life Stories, the Scottish Gallery’s current exhibition.
William Crosbie painted the nude for all his professional life, and is particularly noted for his studies of women – all posed with great confidence; some partially draped but never demure. Crosbie shared the methods of noted French artist, Ingres, and later experimented with ink line drawings, such as those done by both Picasso and Matisse. Returning to his oil painting I was particularly drawn to ‘Nude Lying on a Red Drape’ (1995) and ‘Reclining Nude (1969 – see header picture)) both executed in oil on board. (See Crosbie’s full biography at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/williamcrosbie)
David Eustace is a well-known contemporary photographer and his limited edition prints on double-layered fine fibre archival Japanese rice paper provide an interesting counterpoint to the work  of  Crosbie and Rebecca Westguard. Living between Edinburgh and New York David has worked for most major magazines. He studied photography as a mature student at Edinburgh Napier University (1987 – 1990) and graduated with a first class honours degree. He is now the Chancellor of the University.
Most intriguing in this exhibition is (pictured) JE Cauldron and Coffee Cup (edition of 5) This set is on double layered fine fibre archival Japanese rice paper and, to me, is full of mystery! (His biography is at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/davideustace).
Rebecca Westguard studied at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen where, under the tuition of Joyce W Cairns, she was able to explore her fascination with the human form. Among other awards and accolades Rebecca received the John Kinross Scholarship in 2002. She describes her work as displaying complexity and discipline; pre-requisites for the challenges of developing both male and female depictions of the human body.
Rebecca’s pencil drawings on canvas board show most powerfully the less than perfect male and female human figures in very natural poses. Her ‘twin’ drawings of Carolyn Resting, Pillows, and Mark Resting, Pillows, which are displayed side-by-side in the exhibition are so naturally synchronised. (www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/rebeccawestguard)
The exhibition runs until 27th February
The Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ. Telephone 0131 558 1200, Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk and www.scottish-gallery.co.uk
The gallery is open from 10 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday.
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Christine Richard OBE FRSA
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Christine has over 25 years' experience in public life in Scotland in the fields of politics, education, public relations and charity work. For 12 years she served on the City of Edinburgh District Council and was her Group's leader for 4 years. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1992 she was made an OBE. Christine is a member of the Board of The Friends of the Royal Scottish Academy. She has just completed six years on the Board of The Edinburgh International Festival.
Christine's business experience has covered the fields of theatre, economic development, science, coal mining, education and training. She has held a number of non-executive directorships in these disciplines. She is a trained and experienced personal relationships counsellor and a business and personal mentor. In 2005 Christine established Christine Richard Associates who undertake Event Management and Public Relations as well as company and individual profiling. She coordinated the 'Yes to Edinburgh' campaign on congestion charging in Edinburgh. ten years ago Christine co-founded West Lothian Women in Business, which is a network for women who are self-employed and also for women managers. Christine has now stepped down from the Chair of this thriving organisation.
For 5 years Christine was a magistrate in the District Court. She was also a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on the appointment of Justices of the Peace. She has been an adviser to Government in various areas of policy, including health, local government and education.
Christine is a trained and experienced radio and television broadcaster and writer as well as an entertaining and accomplished speaker. She has a wealth of topics on which she is invited to speak. These range from witty after lunch and after dinner speaking to the more serious topics of the economy, health, education, enterprise, the Powers of the Mind and Life/work balance. She writes reviews and articles for lifestyle magazine, Lothian Life. She took part as a contestant in an ITV gourmet TV show, Chef V Britain, challenging TV chef Gino D'Acampo to cook her signature dish, Posh Cottage Pie. Currently Christine is a member of the Goodison Group in Scotland and Scotland's Futures. Also she is involved in the group Changing the Chemistry of Scottish Boards. Her first novel, Whitewalls, a modern Scottish family saga has been published by New Generation Publishing and is available on all internet books siets and from libraries. She is writing a sequel Autumn at Whitewalls.
Her leisure interests include her family, literature, music, theatre, food, wine and horse racing. She is a member of a racing syndicate, which has two horses in training.
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