Tongues of Diamond Collins Gallery 1999
The 1999 Tongues of Diamond Exhibition at the Collins Gallery in Glasgow was a group show consisting of five ‘Glasgow Girls’ who were all contemporaries of each other and graduates of the Glasgow School of Art.
Alexander (Sandy) Moffat OBE RSA in his introduction to the Exhibition wrote…
“Tongues of Diamond, is an exhibition of 5 artists who worked directly or indirectly with myths, legends and fairy-tales. These 5 artists are all painters and all were students in the 1980s when the ‘new painting’ had such a liberating impact on many young artists. What Rosemary Beaton, Lesley Burr, Helen Flockhart, Alison Harper and Debbie Lee present to us is neither a simplistic development of the 1980’s expressionism nor is it a return to the safe paths of parochial tradition. The potency of their work resides in the unique power of the painted image to convey the irrational and the mysterious, and to reveal a world of enigmas, visions and dreams. As such, Tongues of Diamond poses a challenge to contemporary taste and value.”
In her introduction to the exhibition Alison Harper writing on behalf of all five artists wrote…
“The Potency which many myths, legends and fairy-tales have for us, is often on a level below the surface of our conscious minds. Myths impact on us in a way that touches our deepest desires and fears. Those who originally created myths needed intuitive access to the recesses of the unconscious imagination where experience that is personal meets experience that is universal and metaphors are born and expressed.”
Below is the full reproduction of the exhibition’s booklet.
Andrew Wamae, London
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- Tongues of Diamond Cover Page
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- Tongues of Diamond Publishers
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- Introduction by Sandy Moffat
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- Introduction by Alison Harper Page One of Three
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- Introduction by Alison Harper Page Two of Three
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- Introduction by Alison Harper Page Three of Three
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- Page One
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- Page Two
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- Page Six
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- Page Seven
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- Page Eighteen
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- Page Twenty
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- Page Twenty One
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- Page Twenty Three
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- Page Twenty Four
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- Page Twenty Five
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- Page Twenty Six
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- Page Twenty Seven
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- Tongues of Diamon Back Cover
Quotes We Love: Henri Matisse
“The Sorrows of The King ” by Henri Matisse, 1952,
“…this courage is essential to the artist, who has to look at everything as though he were seeing it for the first time: He has to look at life as he did when he was a child and, if he loses that faculty, he cannot express himself in an original, that is, a personal way.”
Henri Matisse,
Nice 1925
Henri Matisse, 1953 (extract from “Looking at Life through the eyes of a child”)
Click image right for more on Matisse.
Quotes We Love: Ben Okri
Ben Okri
” A delighted mood blossomed in him as he passed the glittering arcades and marketplaces where the Invisibles from all over the world came to buy and sell ideas. Here they traded in philosophies, inspirations, intuitions, prophecies, paradoxes, riddles, enigmas, visions and dreams. Enigmas were their trinkets, philosophies their jewelleries, paradoxes their silver, clarity their measure, inspiration their gold, prophecy their language, vision their play and dreams their standards.”
Ben Okri, “Astonishing the Gods”
“Astonishing the Gods”
By Ben Okri
1995
Publisher: Phoenix
Alison Harper’s “Angels Wear Silver” at the Compass Gallery Oct-Nov 1995
Click on images to enlarge.
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- Angels Wear Silver Cover Page
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- Forward by Sandy Moffat OBE
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- Page One
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- Page Two
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- Page Three
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- Page Four
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- Page Five
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- Alison Harper’s “Angels Wear Silver” Compass Gallery 1995 Page Six
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- Extract from Alison Harper’s “Angels Wear Silver” Exhibition 1995 Page Seven
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- Page Eight
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- Biography & Acknowledgements
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- Angels Wear Silver Back Cover
Matisse on Looking at Life…
Matisse: Self Portrait
1918: Collection Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis
(Extract from a conversation with Alison Harper)
“I have always been an admirer of Henri Matisse and when I begun to think of a quote that I have drawn inspiration from this is what I recalled and would like to share…
Matisse notes that creation begins with vision, which is itself a creative operation. His affirmation that it is essential for the artist to look at everything as if he were seeing it for the first time, as though he were a child, recalls the Impressionist painters’ belief in the importance of preserving a fresh and innocent vision… without which it would be impossible to express oneself in an original personal way.
Alison Harper & Henri Matisse’s Snail
1996 Tate Modern
“…this courage is essential to the artist, who has to look at everything as though he were seeing it for the first time: He has to look at life as he did when he was a child and, if he loses that faculty, he can not express himself in an original, that is, a personal way.”
Matisse, 1953.