Edinburgh E-Book

Joanne Soroka

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Retrace the footsteps of over 100 of Edinburgh's most illustrious people (& animals). With many maps to guide you, Edinburgh - Celebrity City Guide, details the lives of one hundred of the city's most famous people, along with illustrations and maps of where they lived, worked or dallied. From the discovery of a reliable anaesthetic to the birthplace of Sean Connery, this book reveals the city's darkest secrets and its most colourful characters. A celebrity city guide to the lives of one hundred of Edinburgh's most famous people. Aimed at residents and visitors to Edinburgh, walkers, local historians and tourist information centres. Superbly illustrated with 202 colour photographs, drawings of people and a map of Edinburgh with number locations. Joanne Soroka shares her love and local history knowledge of Edinburgh by producing this celebrity city guide.

Leseprobe

Entrance to the Royal Palace, Edinburgh Castle

Joanne Soroka

Copyright

First published in 2013 by The Crowood Press Ltd Ramsbury, Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2013

© Joanne Soroka 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 84797 559 1

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

PREFACE

ARTISTS

PERFORMERS

WRITERS

PIONEERS

DOERS

THE UNCATEGORIZABLE

MAPS

EDINBURGH’S BUILDINGS, STREETS AND INSTITUTIONS

PLACES OF NOTE

GLOSSARY

INDEX

Edinburgh Castle from the Princes Street Gardens.

PREFACE

Connecting Edinburgh and celebrities might at first seem odd. Don’t they all live in Paris, London or New York? The celebrities in this book are, however, people of real accomplishment, many of whom are household names. Edinburgh has been a centre of achievement for centuries. From Bonnie Prince Charlie to Alexander Graham Bell to the Bay City Rollers, they all made an impact. Do you want to know about the real Mrs Doubtfire? Or where Tony Blair planned his campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party? You may even want to find out where fictional characters such as Inspector Rebus go for a quick drink.

Edinburgh has long been a hub of intellectual life, spawning or attracting the most intelligent and determined in the country. In particular, the Scottish Enlightenment of the second half of the eighteenth century was a fertile time for philosophers, artists and writers. This was the time of the rise of the scientific method, increasing secularism and scepticism – questioning which only increased through time. Today Edinburgh is still a centre of learning and innovation, whether in physics or restaurants.

Each celebrity has a page with their image, a short biography and a picture of an object, work of art or building associated with them. Colour-coded maps at the back show the places they lived, worked, where the objects can be seen, a grave, a statue, whatever is available to be visited. For the living, current addresses are not included to protect their privacy, and some buildings are now private homes, so please do not disturb current residents. Other buildings have unfortunately been demolished, with the maps marking the approximate site.

The collection of one hundred celebrities is a personal choice, since there could easily have been twice as many. They are divided into six categories: artists, writers, performers, doers, pioneers and the uncategorizable. You can trace their movements around the city, using the grid references and postcodes in the text, together with the maps. You can find out whether a celebrity lived down the road or next door. There are also artefacts available to see, with most of the museums and galleries mentioned having free admission.

Edinburgh does not have the London system of standardized blue plaques indicating the homes of the famous. Plaques of various types have been erected by organizations as diverse as the Japan Sherlock Holmes Club and the International Association for the Study of Pain, but some places have nothing. If you look up to first-floor level, however, you may be rewarded by the sight of one of them or an inscription carved in stone. (North Americans, please remember that in Britain, your first floor is the ground floor, and your second floor is the first floor.)

The guidebook is designed so that you can dip into it, for example if you have a particular interest in Sean Connery or Mary Queen of Scots. Maybe you are curious about all of Edinburgh’s many writers. Or you may discover someone you’d never heard of, finding his of her story fascinating. This new type of guidebook will help you to see Edinburgh from the point of view of its most celebrated residents and show you how to walk in their footsteps. And it is best to walk – slowly absorbing the atmosphere, the different eras and generations whose ghosts and living people inhabit the city’s streets.

1

ARTISTS

As well as the expected painters, this category is populated with architects, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and those who work in glass and textiles. Architects in particular have shaped the way Edinburgh looks today. James Craig devised the plan for the New Town – new in the eighteenth century, that is – from an idea for a planned suburb. Following him, Robert Adam and William Playfair put their mainly Georgian stamp on Edinburgh, whose Old and New Towns are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The beautiful buildings and terraces designed by these three architects helped to secure this honour.

Sir Henry Raeburn and John Kay were contemporaries who would have witnessed the building of the New Town, and Raeburn as a property developer contributed to its expansion. However, he is primarily known for his superb portraits of the celebrities of the era, and many of those he depicted are still well-known – Adam Smith, David Hume, James Boswell and others. His portrait of the skating minister has become the emblem of the National Galleries of Scotland. John Kay’s caricatures of the same people annoyed some of them to the extent that he was beaten up and (unsuccessfully) prosecuted.

In the Victorian era, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson took up the new technology of photography and turned it into an art form. Their short-lived partnership was responsible for numerous portraits of the famous as well as those of modest birth. The Scottish Colourists stuck to painting, but brought a new sensibility to it. Two of its number were Samuel Peploe and Francis Cadell, both of whom wanted to create a Scottish idiom in visual art.

In the later Victorian era, it started to be possible for determined women to become artists. The first professional in Edinburgh was Phoebe Traquair, whose work spanned several fields, from murals to enamels and textiles. She set the scene for twentieth-century women, namely Anne Redpath and later Dame Elizabeth Blackadder. Most recently, Alison Kinnaird combines working with etched glass and playing the Scottish harp.

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi started from humble beginnings but became one of the most prominent British artists of the twentieth century, with his public sculptures in locations around Edinburgh and other cities. The painter John Bellany also rose to fame with pictures of strange combinations of fish and humans, showing his roots in the nearby fishing community of Port Seton.

Edinburgh and its people feature in many of the images created by the artists. And the city itself is a work of art, its Old Town replete with ancient buildings, a castle and palace, and its New Town resplendent with sweeps of Georgian terraces.

Elizabeth Blackadder is known for enjoying drawing her cats. Louis has posed for her here (not on public display).

ROBERT ADAM

1728–92, ARCHITECT

Robert Adam was born in Kirkcaldy, his family moving that same year to Edinburgh and living in the Canongate. The son of a prominent architect, he was educated at the Royal High SchoolMap p126S14(High School Yards, now Archaeology Building of University of Edinburgh, EH1 1LZ) and the University of EdinburghMap p126R14(Old College, South Bridge, plaque inside entrance on left, EH8 9YL). His schooling was interrupted by illness and Bonnie Prince Charlie’s, q.v., Jacobite Rebellion. He initially wanted to become an artist, but with his elder brother, John, he became an assistant to his father in 1746. When John inherited the business upon their father’s death, he brought first Robert and then another brother, James, into the firm, all becoming known as the Adam Brothers. He designed the mausoleum for his father in Greyfriars KirkyardMap p124P14(1 Greyfriars Place, Adam family mausoleum, south-west corner, EH1 2QQ).

From 1755 to 1757, he went to Europe to study Roman architecture, making extensive drawings, and was arrested as a spy while taking measurements of the Emperor Diocletian’s palace in Dalmatia, now in Croatia. Following his return to Britain, he set up the family business in London.

The prevailing architectural style was Palladian, based on the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio, which Adam characterized as ‘ponderous and disgustful’. Based on his research, he created the neoclassical or Georgian style, which he considered more flexible, also designing furniture and interiors to complement the buildings. Among the many Edinburgh buildings he designed are Register HouseMap p122Q11(HM General Register House, 2 Princes Street, EH1 3YY) and the north side of Charlotte SquareMap p120L12(EH2 4DR).

He has been called Britain’s most important neoclassical architect and possibly the most influential architect ever, building his success on his vision and his attention to detail. In 1792 he was appointed architect to King George III. He and his brothers designed buildings from Inverness to Brighton. A medallion is in the Scottish National Portrait GalleryMap p122P10(1 Queen Street, gallery 5, second floor, paste medallion, EH2 1JD) and an architectural model in the National Museum of ScotlandMap p124Q14(Chambers Street, ‘Scotland Transformed’, level 3, middle of east wall, EH1 1JF). He is buried at Westminster Abbey.

Framed cut-paper model of the east front of the Old College, University of Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland Map p124Q14.

JOHN BELLANY

1942–, PAINTER

John Bellany was born into a family of fishermen and boat builders at 18 Gosford Road(off map, EH32 0HF) in Port Seton, near Edinburgh. The religious family also believed in the many local fishing superstitions. As a boy he drew boats obsessively. In 1960 he became the first person from Port Seton to go to Edinburgh College of ArtMap p124O15(74 Lauriston Place, EH3 9DF). He lived with three other students at 150 Rose Street Lane SouthMap p122M12(eastern section of lanes, west side near corner with Rose Street, EH2 4BB), where he enhanced its walls with murals. During the Edinburgh Festival of 1963, he and another student, Sandy Moffat, held an exhibition on the railings of Castle TerraceMap p124M13(near corner of Lothian Road, EH1 2EW), and again in the 1965 festival put on an open-air show on the railings of the Playfair StepsMap p122P12(east of the Scottish National Gallery, EH2 2EL). He married a fellow student, Helen Percy, before going to the Royal College in London in 1965.

He worked prolifically, with his paintings becoming darker after a visit to the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp, when he also became convinced that there was no loving god. This period of his life was marked by heavy drinking and divorce, which led to a nervous breakdown and a return to his parents’ home in 1974. His self-destructive lifestyle also meant that by 1988 he needed a liver transplant, which gave him a ‘renewed zest for life’. He created many self-portraits while recovering in hospital. His second wife had died, and he had remarried his first wife in 1986.

His large output is characterized by colourful but often menacing images of birds and animals, the fishing community and religious themes. People are often hybrids with birds or animals. He has been called one of Scotland’s greatest living artists, showing internationally, with his work in many public galleries around the world. In Edinburgh it is in the collections of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern ArtMap p120H12(Modern One, 75 Belford Road, not always on display, EH4 3DR) and the Scottish National Portrait GalleryMap p122P10(1 Queen Street, not on display, EH2 1JD). He now divides his time between Cambridge, Edinburgh and Italy.

The railings of the Playfair Steps, one of the first places John Bellany exhibited his paintings Map p122P12.

DAME ELIZABETH BLACKADDER

1931–, PAINTER

Elizabeth Violet Blackadder was born in Falkirk. She came to Edinburgh in 1949 to study for a combined degree in fine art, awarded by Edinburgh College of ArtMap p124O15(74 Lauriston Place, EH3 9DF), and the University of Edinburgh, where she won several travelling scholarships. Following her 1956 marriage to fellow artist John Houston, they lived upstairs from another artist and friend, Anne Redpath, q.v., at 7 London StreetMap p122P9(EH3 6LZ). She taught at Edinburgh College of Art for many years, before retiring in 1986 to devote herself full-time to painting and printmaking.

While she has done landscapes and portraits, Blackadder is best known for her watercolour still lives featuring flowers from her own garden, found or acquired objects and her cats. The disparate elements can appear to be scattered over the page, often more like botanical illustrations than traditional still lives. Trips to Japan have meant that Japanese objects are now included. She often uses Japanese paper and is inspired by the country’s aesthetic sensibility, for example leaving significant amounts of empty space in her compositions.

Blackadder has many firsts to her name, including being the first woman elected to both the Royal Academy and the Royal Scottish AcademyMap p122O12(The Mound, EH2 2EL) where a large retrospective of her work was held in 2011 and 2012, and being the first woman to be appointed Her Majesty’s Painter and Limner in Scotland, a post held 200 years previously by Sir Henry Raeburn, q.v. She was created Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2003. Her work is in many national and international collections, including those of the Heriot-Watt University, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern ArtMap p120H12(Modern One, 75 Belford Road, not always on display, EH4 3DR), and the University of Edinburgh. She has been called Scotland’s best living female artist and is also one of the most popular, with reproductions of her flowers and cats on everything from mugs to tea towels. She has lived for many years in the Grange area of Edinburgh.

One of Elizabeth Blackadder’s watercolour still lives (not on public display).

FRANCIS CADELL

1883–1937, PAINTER

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell was born at 4 Buckingham TerraceMap p120J11(EH4 3AB), the son of a surgeon. At sixteen he went to study in Paris at the Académie Julian, where he was impressed by the work of Matisse and the early Fauvists. He returned to Edinburgh in 1908, when he had his first solo show, after which he exhibited regularly in Scotland. He focused on landscapes, still lives and Edinburgh interiors, both in oil and watercolour. He is noted for his use of strong colour, loose style and the depiction of fashionable women.

During World War I, he served with two Scottish regiments and sketched fellow servicemen. Upon his return he became friends with another artist, Samuel Peploe, q.v., who was a strong influence on him, and travelled with him to Iona several times. With John Duncan Fergusson and Leslie Hunter, the four became known as the Scottish Colourists and they created a distinctive Scottish idiom. They were known for fresh colour, but not for daring subject matter. Cadell was initially successful, but his work fell out of favour by the 1930s, with sales also hit by the Great Depression. He lived at 6 Ainslie PlaceMap p120L11(EH3 6AR) and 22 Ainslie PlaceMap p120L11(EH3 6AJ), before moving in 1932 to 30 Regent TerraceMap p118U10(EH7 5BS). In ill health due to cirrhosis of the liver, he moved to more humble premises at 4 Warriston CrescentMap p116N6(EH3 5LA) in 1934 and died in poverty at the Officers Association Nursing HomeMap p120I11(25 Belgrave Crescent, EH4 3AL). Although he was elected an academician of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1936, he had had to apply to their Fund for the Relief of Decayed Artists and had their uncashed cheque for £50 in his pocket at the time of his death. His paintings now sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

He is buried in the Dean CemeteryMap p120I11(63 Dean Path, through Dean Path gates, turn left, first path on right, first path on left, towards end of path on left, EH4 3AT), and his work can be seen at the National War MuseumMap p124N13(Edinburgh Castle, Castlehill, EH1 2NG) and in the collection of the City Art CentreMap p122Q12(2 Market Street, viewing by appointment, EH1 1DE).

The Black Hat, Francis Cadell, collection of the City Art Centre (not on display) Map p122Q12.

JAMES CRAIG

1739–95, ARCHITECT

James Craig was the son of a merchant and went to George Watson’s HospitalMap p124P16(since demolished, near Peter’s Yard café, 27 Simpson Loan, EH3 9GG), a school for the sons of ‘deceased and indigent’ merchants. He was then apprenticed in 1755 to a stonemason, qualifying after nine years, but does not appear to have had any architectural training.

In 1766 Edinburgh was an overcrowded, dirty and smelly city, largely confined to the Royal Mile and its immediate surroundings. The city fathers decided to hold a competition to design new suburbs to the north of the town, then open fields. Seven entries were received, and the young and unknown James Craig was the winner. His simple grid design for what became known as the New Town had broad streets for the wealthy and narrow lanes in between for servants and stables. Squares and statues were incorporated, all in a balanced structure. He also used the contours of the land to allow open vistas from both Princes Street and Queen Street. He travelled to London to study the latest sewer systems, and the city agreed to cobble the streets and install sewers and a water supply. Building work started in 1767 and was completed in 1820, with later additions up until the 1850s. The wealthy left the Old Town for this more healthy and spacious accommodation.

Craig went on to design other individual buildings and streets, including the Assembly RoomsMap p122O11(54 George Street, EH2 2LR) and Merchant StreetMap p124P14(EH1 2QD). From 1773 until his death he lived at the foot of West BowMap p124P14(near 112 West Bow, corner of the Grassmarket, EH1 2HH). In later years he had little work, his patrons having died or lost power, and had financial difficulties, eventually dying insolvent. He is buried in Greyfriars KirkyardMap p124P14(1 Greyfriars Place, first path on right, EH1 2QQ).

The New Town (with the Old Town) was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. It is one of the largest extents of Georgian architecture in the world and one of the earliest examples of town planning. His plans can be seen in the Museum of EdinburghMap p118T12(Huntly House, 142 Canongate, Royal Mile, EH8 8DD) and the National Museum of ScotlandMap p124Q14(Chambers Street, ‘Scotland Transformed’, level 3, middle south, EH1 1JF).

The original plans for the New Town of Edinburgh, Museum of Edinburgh Map p118T12.

HILLAND ADAMSON

DAVID OCTAVIUS HILL, 1802–70, PAINTERANDPHOTOGRAPHER ROBERT ADAMSON, 1821–48, PHOTOGRAPHERANDENGINEER

David Octavius Hill was born in Perth and moved upon marriage to 19 Moray Place Map p120L11(EH3 6DA). He was a landscape painter and book illustrator. Robert Adamson was born in St Andrews, where he had experimented with a new photographic process, the calotype. The advantages of the calotype over the more prevalent daguerreotype were that it required less exposure time and multiple copies could be made from it. From 1843 they collaborated in their photographic studio at Rock HouseMap p118R11(28 Calton Hill, near entrance to path off Regent Road leading up Calton Hill, left side, EH1 3BH), working both indoors and on the roof, which had views north and south. Hill contributed the artistic content, while Adamson provided the technical expertise. Their first project was to photograph every one of the 450 dissenting ministers who had participated in the schism, the ‘Disruption’ with the Church of Scotland, so that Hill could paint a composite picture. This mammoth task meant that he completed the painting only twenty-three years later. At the same time, they went on to take pictures of a huge range of subjects, from fisherfolk and soldiers to the famous of the day. Views and street scenes were also subjects. Together they created a total of around 3,000 prints.

The partnership lasted only four years, ending with Adamson’s illness and untimely death. Hill had initially viewed photography only as an aide-mémoire for the painter, but the complementary talents of the partnership meant that they were able to take photography into another dimension. They had produced fine pictorial images, not merely documentary photos, and are regarded as the first to have turned photography into an art form.

Hill continued to live at Rock House after the death of Adamson, concentrating more on his painting, before moving to Newington LodgeMap p128V20(38 Mayfield Terrace, EH9 1RZ). A bust of Hill is in the Scottish National Portrait GalleryMap p122P10(1 Queen Street, bust in entrance hall, photos in Photography Gallery (not always on display), first floor, EH2 1JD), and he is buried at Dean CemeteryMap p120I11(63 Dean Path, through Dean Path gates, turn left, first path on right, eighteenth monument on right-hand side, EH4 3AT). Their work is in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the National War MuseumMap p124N13(Edinburgh Castle, Castlehill, photos on stairway between ground and first floor, EH1 2NG) and the collection of the City Art CentreMap p122Q12(2 Market Street, EH1 1DE, viewing by appointment).

The gate at Rock House, Calton Hill, where Hill and Adamson had their photographic studio Map p118R11.

JOHN KAY

1742–1826, CARICATURIST

John Kay was born near Dalkeith and apprenticed to a barber there. In 1761 he moved into Edinburgh as a journeyman barber, and ten years later was a master of his trade, a surgeon-barber. At his shop he began to make miniature paintings and etchings of his clients, although he had no training in art. His skill attracted the patronage of Sir William Nisbet of Dirleton, upon whose death he was granted an annuity of £20. With this income and the increasing popularity of his prints, Kay gave up barbering in 1785 and opened a print shop in Parliament CloseMap p124Q13(Old Parliament Close, since demolished, east side of St Giles Cathedral, Royal Mile, EH1 1RE).

These caricatures would gently mock their subjects, who ranged from the humblest to the highest-ranking in Edinburgh. However, some of those depicted did not enjoy being the butt of his humour. On at least one occasion he was beaten with a cudgel and was also prosecuted, albeit unsuccessfully. Others bought up the images of themselves only to destroy them.

Kay was lucky to live during the Scottish Enlightenment, when many prominent figures who are still household names walked the streets near his premises. Among his subjects were Adam Smith, q.v., James Hutton, q.v., and Deacon Brodie, q.v. It is estimated he made 900 images, with only about 340 having survived. He planned to publish them as a book, but this project was not realized until 1837, when the first of the eventual eight volumes of Edinburgh Portraits was published by Hugh Paton.

Kay lived at 227 High StreetMap p124Q13(Royal Mile, plaque at first-floor level, EH1 1PE) until the time of his death. He is buried in Greyfriars KirkyardMap p124P14(1 Greyfriars Place, north-west corner, unmarked grave, EH1 2QQ). His caricatures are in the Scottish National Portrait GalleryMap p122P10(1 Queen Street, gallery 7, second floor, thirteen etchings, one oil self-portrait, EH2 1JD) and the Museum of EdinburghMap p118T12(Huntly House, 142 Canongate, Royal Mile, first floor, etchings, EH8 8DD). His widow said, ‘He cared for no employment except that of etching likenesses.’ His eye for detail, coupled with his ability to home in on human frailties, make his portraits a unique record of the Edinburgh of his day.

John Kay’s portrait of Adam Smith, Scottish National Portrait Gallery Map p122P10.

ALISON KINNAIRD

1949–, GLASS ARTIST AND HARPIST

Alison Margaret Kinnaird was born at 2 Rillbank CrescentMap p128Q18(EH9 1LJ). When she was five, the family moved to 45 Dick PlaceMap p128Q21(EH9 2JA) where there was a summer house in the garden, in which she was able to start doing glass engraving. However, her first training had been in music, playing the cello, then taking up the small Scottish harp at fourteen and becoming a founder member of the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra. Since then she has combined these two strands of creativity.

Following study at the University of Edinburgh, where she was awarded an MA in Celtic studies and archaeology, from the late 1960s Kinnaird started to take classes in glass engraving. After her marriage to fellow musician Robin Morton, they lived at 24 Hugh Miller PlaceMap p116L8(EH3 5JG). Using a variety of techniques from sandblasting to acid etching on crystal, she started to get commissions, ranging from trophies to a goblet that was presented to the Queen Mother. Her beautifully drawn images of humans were always monochrome, with colour featuring only later in her career. Commissions and sales on a larger scale followed, including one for the new Scottish ParliamentMap p118U12(Horse Wynd, entrance hall, EH99 1SP). In 2012 the Queen inaugurated the Donor Window at the Scottish National Portrait GalleryMap p122P10(1 Queen Street, Donor Window, top of east stair; also portrait of Roy Dennis, ground floor, EH2 1JD), which includes a portrait of Her Majesty and those of twelve major benefactors.

As a harpist, Kinnaird plays and records traditional Scottish music, sometimes with the Battlefield Band, and does research into it, having authored several books. In 1979 her album, The Harp Key – Crann nan Teud, was the first recording of Scottish harp music. Her 1992 book, Tree of Strings, written in collaboration with Keith Sanger, was the first to document the history of the harp in Scotland. Other books help the novice harpist and contain Kinnaird’s arrangements of tunes.

In 1997 Kinnaird was honoured with an MBE for services to art and music, one of several awards. Her glass is exhibited internationally, and her eight albums are widely respected.

Psalmsong, Alison Kinnaird’s glass work of art in the Scottish Parliament Map p118U12.

SIR EDUARDO PAOLOZZI

1924–2005, ARTIST

Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi was born at 6 Crown PlaceMap p118V4(since demolished, near 39 Leith Walk, EH6 8LS), the son of Italian immigrants. The following year they moved to 12 Albert StreetMap p118T7(and shop at 10 Albert Street, EH7 5LG), where they lived above their ice-cream shop. As a teenager he attended Holy Cross Academy(off map, now St Augustine’s RC High School, 208 Broomhouse Road, EH12 9AD). When Italy declared war on Britain in 1940, he was interned at Saughton prison(off map, HM Prison Edinburgh, 33 Stenhouse Road, EH11 3LN). During this time, his father, grandfather and uncle were among 446 interned British Italians drowned when the ship transporting them to Canada was sunk by a U-boat.

Paolozzi attended evening classes at Edinburgh College of ArtMap p124O15(74 Lauriston Place, EH3 9DF) and used the studio of a friend, Norman Forrest, at 16 Regent TerraceMap p118T11(EH7 5BN) before going to the Slade School of Fine Art in London and then to Paris, where he met surrealists and other artists. Although he didn’t like the term ’pop’, preferring to characterize himself as a surrealist, he was producing this type of art long before it was ‘invented’ by Andy Warhol. He enjoyed exploring American consumerist imagery in order to criticize it. Another frequent theme was the relationship between humans and machines, including robots. He worked in many media – prints, collage, mosaic, tapestry and even an album cover – but is primarily remembered as a sculptor, often working on a monumental scale.

In 1994 Paolozzi gave most of the contents of his studio and many of his works of art to the National Galleries of Scotland. In 1999 the Dean GalleryMap p120H12(now Modern Two, 73 Belford Road, recreation of studio, indoor and outdoor sculptures, EH4 3DS) was opened. It recreated his studio and displayed many of his works, along with those of other surrealist and Dada artists. His most prominent sculpture in Edinburgh is at York PlaceMap p118R10(Picardy Place roundabout, York Place, EH1 3JD). The Manuscript of Monte Cassino faces towards his birthplace, and also recalls both the area most Edinburgh Italians came from and the terrible World War II battle there. Its aim was to create peace amid chaos. One of the most prolific and respected artists of his day, he was knighted in 1988.

Part of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi’s sculpture, The Manuscript of MonteCassino, top of Leith Walk, Picardy Place Map p118R10.

SAMUEL PEPLOE

1871–1935, PAINTER