Notebook #11: Scotland's photos, The Diplomat, Ben Watt

An exhibition, a TV series, two playlists, some politics

The red and white roses (1865) by Julia Margaret Cameron. Credit: Creative Commons

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When Anne Lyden was named the new director of the National Galleries of Scotland I punched the air and shouted “yes”. Not literally, you understand. I am a grumpy, middle-aged Scotsman. Overt displays of emotion are frowned upon. I did it in my head.

But I was genuinely pleased. Lyden’s previous job at the galleries was chief curator of photography. Before that she worked with the photography collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Excellent, I thought. Photography, long the Cinderella of the National Galleries of Scotland, was at last going to the ball.

Anne Lyden. Credit: Laura Prieto

A new exhibition at National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait - we really need to do something about the gallery names - is a declaration of Lyden’s intent. Celebrating 40 Years of Scotland’s Photography Collection - we really need to do something about about the exhibition names - should be seen as a taste of things to come.

There are 55,000 photos in the national collection. It stretches from 19th century pictures taken by early pioneers to freshly commissioned works reflecting the racial and cultural mix of contemporary Scotland. A skim through the best of the collection has brought us this selection as a teaser.

The exhibition itself is too wide in scope to make much sense as a coherent whole. The pleasure is in making unlikely connections: moving from an 1847 portrait of a Newhaven fisherwoman called Jeanie Wilson, her head covered in a shawl, to a 2013 portrait of a young Scottish woman called Pudong, her head covered with a religious “sacred cloth”.

David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson: Jeannie Wilson and Annie Linton. Credit: Creative Commons

Arita Shah: Pudong, from the series Purdah, The Sacred Cloth. Credit: National Galleries of Scotland

Some stellar international names are represented here: Annie Leibovitz, Lee Miller, Don McCullin, Robert Mapplethorpe. Each is a singular pleasure. But the highlight of the show, and a promise of what to expect in the future, is a