A major new exhibition of the work of the late Scottish painter John Bellany features a self-portrait of the artist and his friend and collector David Bowie, which has not been seen in public for 20 years.
The show of around 50 works by Bellany, who died in 2013, are from the collections of the leading art collector Frank Cohen and the Bellany Estate.
The self portrait of Bellany, considered one of the finest post-war Scottish painters, and Bowie, was painted in 1988.
Bowie, who died in 2016, was an great admirer of Bellany's work, and owned several examples of his work in his private art collection.
The new show is being shown at the famous London store, Fortnum & Mason, and will run from September 18 to October 28.
The exhibition takes a look at Bellany's work across five decades and has been curated by Robert Upstone, former Director of The Fine Art Society and Head of Modern British Art at Tate, and is the largest exhibition of the artist’s work since his death.
In the self-portrait Bellany, chose to depict Bowie as an artist and himself as a musician - both skills they had, but the opposite of what they were known for.
It is the first time the self portrait has been displayed in London.
Mr Cohen said: "I have always loved John Bellany’s work. I have admired him intensely for years, and I am very excited now about this new exhibition.
"When everyone was making abstracts and Pop paintings Bellany was creating amazing images - revealing, ambitious and tough, distilling raw emotion onto the canvas.
"His great hero was Courbert, and he shares Courbert’s realism and sense of human sympathy."
Ewan Venters, Fortnum’s chief executive, said: "John Bellany believed that art belongs out in the world, which makes it all the more exciting that Frank and the Bellany Estate have chosen our cornershop at Piccadilly to show this incredible body of work.”
Bellany, born in 1942, was known for his vivid and expressionistic depictions of his home town of Port Seton.
He studied painting at the Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal College of Art and was awarded a CBE in 1994.
The Bellany Estate hold works painted by Bellany and is run by the artist’s family.
Mr Cohen began collecting in the 1970s, and in the early 1990s became a patron and supporter of what became known as the Young British Artists (YBAs).
An exhibition of his private collection was held at Chatsworth in 2012 and he was a member of the Tate’s Turner Prize Jury in 2003.
In 2013 he established the Dairy Art Centre in Bloomsbury.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here