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Mrs McGowan
Mrs McGowan

Education at the Art Galleries
Education at the Art Galleries

Art Hangers, 1921

Mitchell Library, The Bailie

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Art Hangers, 1921

Members of the Hanging Committee for the 1921 exhibition of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts at the McLellan Galleries. The responsibility of the "hangers" was to group the pictures exhibited in as effective a manner as possible, to enhance the overall effect.

Norah Neilson Gray made history as the first woman to be elected to the Hanging Committee. She showed great promise while a student at Glasgow School of Art, and was invited to exhibit both in the UK and abroad. She served as a nurse in the First World War, and in 1920 was commissioned to record the Scottish Women's Hospital for the Imperial War Museum. Examples of her work can be seen in galleries in Glasgow, Brussels, Nice and Toronto.

A hanger for the second successive year, James Whitelaw Hamilton was a painter with an international reputation who frequently exhibited overseas. An efficient administrator and organiser, he did much to stimulate artistic life in the West of Scotland.

The lay member of the committee was Bailie Robert Laing, of James R & William Laing, jewellers and silversmiths. He represented Kelvinside ward on the council from 1914 to 1935, and was City Treasurer, 1932-1934. He was involved in a wide range of cultural activities.

Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 052 BAI

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning

Keywords:
artists, councillors, exhibitions, First World War, Glasgow School of Art, hangers, Hanging Committee, Imperial War Museum, James R & William Laing, jewellers, magistrates, McLellan Galleries, nurses, painters, Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Scottish Women's Hospital, silversmiths, treasurers, women artists



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