The Hunterian Art Gallery reopened its doors on 15 September after a nine-month project to bring the 1980s purpose-built gallery up to international museum standards, and to redisplay its collections.
With a modest budget of £450,000, funded by the university and Museums Galleries Scotland, the scheme included a major overhaul of the roof, the addition of a retail space, a new security system and air handling plant.
The Hunterian is Scotland’s oldest public museum. The first display of its art collection in 1807 predates any other in the UK and was largely due to the major bequest of the anatomist William Hunter, who was a student at the University of Glasgow.
Scottish collection
Hunter acquired old masters, Dutch and Flemish art as well as works by major contemporary artists of the period. He understood the value of art for teaching and learning; how a single artwork could represent scientific, philosophical, cultural and aesthetic debates.
A later significant acquisition was the estate of the artist James McNeill Whistler, who had Scottish ancestry. Since then, the gallery has bought important holdings of Scottish art including key works by the Glasgow Boys, the Scottish Colourists and the interiors of Mackintosh House.
One key aim of the redisplay is to engage students from the university’s art history and museum studies courses, embedding museum education and professional practice in its daily activities.
The new displays provide opportunities for collections-based learning and will play an important role in training the next generation of art historians, curators and educators as well as attracting students studying other subjects.
Having been given a fresh coat of paint throughout, the gallery looks much more airy and enticing. An eggshell-green sweeps through the entire space unifying the displays, a shade that is both historical and contemporary. The colour is especially fitting as a backdrop to the stunning full-length Whistler portraits of fashionable women.
The exhibition begins with three large panels supplying a concise and well-written introduction to the history of the collection and its various homes (this being the third).
There is also a useful plan of the sections of the gallery and, as you continue exploring, each display has an introductory panel and new labels housed in elegant scroll-like aluminium fittings.
The interpretation throughout the gallery focuses on a number of key themes: the history of the collection; the Enlightenment as a catalyst for progressive views about art; the making of art; and the influence of key artists, movements and artistic trends.
The target audiences are clearly adults and students. The interpretation is not aimed at families or schools, which appears to be a strategic decision.
Many other Glasgow museums already have well-established programmes for these audiences so it is sensible for the Hunterian to play to its strengths. This way it can invest in students, including student teachers.
Conversation pieces
There are some innovative interpretative methodologies at play here. The chronology and groupings make a lot of sense, helping the non-specialist visitor to see the progression of ideas.
Other objects and more personal collections offer insights to developments of styles and techniques. These include a display of Whistler’s palettes and incredibly long brushes, as well as some unfinished studies that help visitors to understand his process.
One example of the enlightened thinking that has been applied to these new displays is the use of a series of conversation pieces.
These encourage visitors to pause and consider some arresting pairings of artworks. This simple but effective method of secondary interpretation uses a tradition in 18th-century art to encourage a sometimes-reticent public to discuss ideas, thoughts and knowledge about art.
Knowledge exchange
And it really works. There are pairings of a neoclassical marble bust with a modern bronze, a Joan Eardley with a Walter Sickert and a lusciously acidic abstract still life by Samuel Peploe paired with the delicate smokiness of a Henri Fantin-Latour. This twinning of Scottish and European artworks is intelligently conceived.
On one of my visits I encountered museum university student educators at each conversation piece encouraging visitors to engage with the art. For the students, this is a unique opportunity for professional practice and for visitors it creates a deeper encounter and the opportunity to contribute.
It is refreshing to see postgraduate research signalled by a series of special labels giving details of current projects and website URLs. Future exhibitions and other outcomes of the projects are also detailed.
This open and informative approach to knowledge exchange and public engagement reinforces the position of the gallery as a living and resonant part the university and encourages visitors to take an ongoing interest in the research.
A further layer of digital interpretation is delivered through QR codes on some labels. However, the gallery doesn’t have wi-fi, so if you don’t have a 3G or 4G device you won’t be able to access this content.
As well as the main galleries, there are a number of new areas for much-needed changing displays of prints and drawings and new acquisitions, including the Focus Gallery and the Spotlight Wall.
Upstairs there is a large temporary exhibition space that reopened with Rembrandt and the Passion, taking the Hunterian’s rare Entombment Sketch by the 17th-century Dutch painter as its starting point while also presenting international loans and the results of the university’s scientific analysis of the painting.
Finally, a new contemporary gallery is dedicated to the work of artists whose work relates to, or who have been directly inspired by, their engagement with the wider Hunterian collections.
This final space reinforces the important roles art and science play in achieving a greater and enlightened understanding of the world. Hunter would approve.
Sarah Saunders is the deputy head of education at the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
With a modest budget of £450,000, funded by the university and Museums Galleries Scotland, the scheme included a major overhaul of the roof, the addition of a retail space, a new security system and air handling plant.
The Hunterian is Scotland’s oldest public museum. The first display of its art collection in 1807 predates any other in the UK and was largely due to the major bequest of the anatomist William Hunter, who was a student at the University of Glasgow.
Scottish collection
Hunter acquired old masters, Dutch and Flemish art as well as works by major contemporary artists of the period. He understood the value of art for teaching and learning; how a single artwork could represent scientific, philosophical, cultural and aesthetic debates.
A later significant acquisition was the estate of the artist James McNeill Whistler, who had Scottish ancestry. Since then, the gallery has bought important holdings of Scottish art including key works by the Glasgow Boys, the Scottish Colourists and the interiors of Mackintosh House.
One key aim of the redisplay is to engage students from the university’s art history and museum studies courses, embedding museum education and professional practice in its daily activities.
The new displays provide opportunities for collections-based learning and will play an important role in training the next generation of art historians, curators and educators as well as attracting students studying other subjects.
Having been given a fresh coat of paint throughout, the gallery looks much more airy and enticing. An eggshell-green sweeps through the entire space unifying the displays, a shade that is both historical and contemporary. The colour is especially fitting as a backdrop to the stunning full-length Whistler portraits of fashionable women.
The exhibition begins with three large panels supplying a concise and well-written introduction to the history of the collection and its various homes (this being the third).
There is also a useful plan of the sections of the gallery and, as you continue exploring, each display has an introductory panel and new labels housed in elegant scroll-like aluminium fittings.
The interpretation throughout the gallery focuses on a number of key themes: the history of the collection; the Enlightenment as a catalyst for progressive views about art; the making of art; and the influence of key artists, movements and artistic trends.
The target audiences are clearly adults and students. The interpretation is not aimed at families or schools, which appears to be a strategic decision.
Many other Glasgow museums already have well-established programmes for these audiences so it is sensible for the Hunterian to play to its strengths. This way it can invest in students, including student teachers.
Conversation pieces
There are some innovative interpretative methodologies at play here. The chronology and groupings make a lot of sense, helping the non-specialist visitor to see the progression of ideas.
Other objects and more personal collections offer insights to developments of styles and techniques. These include a display of Whistler’s palettes and incredibly long brushes, as well as some unfinished studies that help visitors to understand his process.
One example of the enlightened thinking that has been applied to these new displays is the use of a series of conversation pieces.
These encourage visitors to pause and consider some arresting pairings of artworks. This simple but effective method of secondary interpretation uses a tradition in 18th-century art to encourage a sometimes-reticent public to discuss ideas, thoughts and knowledge about art.
Knowledge exchange
And it really works. There are pairings of a neoclassical marble bust with a modern bronze, a Joan Eardley with a Walter Sickert and a lusciously acidic abstract still life by Samuel Peploe paired with the delicate smokiness of a Henri Fantin-Latour. This twinning of Scottish and European artworks is intelligently conceived.
On one of my visits I encountered museum university student educators at each conversation piece encouraging visitors to engage with the art. For the students, this is a unique opportunity for professional practice and for visitors it creates a deeper encounter and the opportunity to contribute.
It is refreshing to see postgraduate research signalled by a series of special labels giving details of current projects and website URLs. Future exhibitions and other outcomes of the projects are also detailed.
This open and informative approach to knowledge exchange and public engagement reinforces the position of the gallery as a living and resonant part the university and encourages visitors to take an ongoing interest in the research.
A further layer of digital interpretation is delivered through QR codes on some labels. However, the gallery doesn’t have wi-fi, so if you don’t have a 3G or 4G device you won’t be able to access this content.
As well as the main galleries, there are a number of new areas for much-needed changing displays of prints and drawings and new acquisitions, including the Focus Gallery and the Spotlight Wall.
Upstairs there is a large temporary exhibition space that reopened with Rembrandt and the Passion, taking the Hunterian’s rare Entombment Sketch by the 17th-century Dutch painter as its starting point while also presenting international loans and the results of the university’s scientific analysis of the painting.
Finally, a new contemporary gallery is dedicated to the work of artists whose work relates to, or who have been directly inspired by, their engagement with the wider Hunterian collections.
This final space reinforces the important roles art and science play in achieving a greater and enlightened understanding of the world. Hunter would approve.
Sarah Saunders is the deputy head of education at the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
Project data
- Cost £450,000
- Main funders University of Glasgow; Museums Galleries Scotland
