The Story of Scottish Art

By (author) Lachlan Goudie

This is the story of how Scotland has defined itself through its art over the past 5000 years, from the earliest enigmatic Neolithic symbols etched onto the landscape of Kilmartin Glen to Glasgow’s fame as a centre of artistic innovation today. Lachlan Goudie brings his perspective and passion as a practising artist and broadcaster to narrate the joys and struggles of artists across the millennia striving to fulfil their vision and the dramatic transformations of Scottish society reflected in their art.The Story of Scottish Art is beautifully illustrated with the diverse artworks that form Scotland’s long tradition of bold creativity: Pictish carved stones and Celtic metalwork, Renaissance palaces and chapels, paintings of Scottish life and landscapes by Horatio McCulloch, David Wilkie and Joan Eardley, designs by master architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and collage and sculpture by Pop Art pioneer Eduardo Paolozzi. Lachlan tells the compelling story of how and why these and many other Scottish masterpieces were created, and the impact they have had on the world.

Reviews of The Story of Scottish Art

'Not only does this book prove that few people know more about Scottish art than Lachlan Goudie, but that no one else cares more. A masterful panorama of art history, and an utterly compelling account of how a nation has seen, and continues to see, itself' – Sathnam Sanghera 'Lachlan Goudie is a fast and confident driver: this is an exhilarating, big-picture, and often surprising account of Scottish art, from the earliest mysterious objects and stone carvings, to painters whose studios are busy and reek of paint right now … a story many of us thought we knew appears refreshed and reinvigorated' – Andrew Marr