Scottish Women Artists review

"Anyone with a passing knowledge of the cultural scene in Scotland cannot have failed to notice that it is now overwhelmingly populated by women," said Giles Sutherland in The Times. They lead its galleries and national institutions; they dominate its art schools. This, however, "was not always the case": indeed, it's important to remember that two generations ago, "it was almost impossible for women to forge a career in the visual arts". 

This "exquisitely curated and designed" exhibition at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh sets out to uncover the work of female artists long hidden in "historical obscurity", and to challenge the familiar, male-dominated story of art in Scotland. It brings together works by around 60 Scottish artists, created between the 18th century and the present day, many of them from the Fleming Collection, established by the bank in 1968. There are some well-known names – Elizabeth Blackadder, Anne Redpath – as well as some unfamiliar ones. All in all, it is an enriching show that is "full of surprises". 

The exhibition gives a vivid sense of the "struggles specific to women artists" in Scotland, said Duncan Macmillan in The Scotsman. The 19th century painter Jemima Blackburn, whose "striking" painting of a gull's nest features here, was almost completely discouraged from exhibiting after receiving a "crassly patronising" appraisal from John Ruskin. In other cases, domestic expectations were to blame. Dorothy Johnstone was "one of the most brilliant artists" in early 20th century Scotland. She is represented here with an excellent portrait of her fellow artist Cecile Walton "reclining in a haystack in striped pantaloons"; yet marriage forced her to give up a job at Edinburgh College of Art, and without that, her inspiration withered. Walton's promise would dry up in similar circumstances: the show's self-portrait of her asleep beside her infant son is "an exquisite image of maternal intimacy", and a suggestion of what was lost. 

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The show is a revelation, said Laura Cumming in The Observer. Most of the painters are from the 20th century, but it also revives forgotten figures from the distant past – such as Catherine Read, a popular 18th century portraitist who studied in Paris, where her family had fled after the Battle of Culloden. There are "marvels" at every turn, from Agnes Miller Parker's 1930 painting of "a post-cubist black cat knocking over a vase of lilies" to a "brilliant-blue self-portrait" by Zimbabwean-Scottish contemporary artist Sekai Machache. Perhaps best of all are the two paintings by Joan Eardley, a "wild and stirring genius" who tragically died of cancer at 42 in 1963. Her painting "Winter Sea III", of the "roiling" sea at Catterline near Aberdeen, is a "magnificent vision of the elements in full force". "Absorbing, surprising, occasionally chastening, this is a beautiful exhibition."

Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh (0131-550 3660, dovecotstudios.com). Until 6 January 2024

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