Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
public exhibition of art. More recently his nude portraits of pop icon Madonna garnered
even more press. His work is much sought after and collected by celebrities such as David
Bowie and Madonna herself. You can see examples of Howson's work at Aberdeen Art
Gallery and Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art.
Jack Vettriano (1954-) was formerly a min-
ing engineer, but now ranks as one of Scot-
land's most commercially successful artists.
An entirely self-taught painter, his work - real-
istic, voyeuristic, occasionally sinister and of-
ten carrying a powerful erotic charge - has
been compared to that of the American paint-
ers Edward Hopper and Walter Sickert. You
can see reproductions of his work in coffee-
table books and posters, but not in any Scottish art gallery. The Scottish art establishment
looks down its nose at him, despite - or perhaps because of - the enormous popularity of
his work.
FILM
Despite dodgy Scottish accents from Liam Neeson
and Jessica Lange,
Rob Roy
is a witty and moving
cinematic version of Sir Walter Scott's tale of the
outlaw MacGregor.
Cinema
Perthshire-born John Grierson (1898-1972) is acknowledged around the world as the fath-
er of the documentary film. His legacy includes the classic
Drifters
(about the Scottish
herring fishery) and
Seaward the Great Ships
(about Clyde shipbuilding). Filmmaker Bill
Douglas (1934-91), the director of an award-winning trilogy of films documenting his
childhood and early adult life, was born in the former mining village of Newcraighall just
south of Edinburgh.
Glasgow-born writer-director Bill Forsyth (1946-) is best
known for
Local Hero
(1983), a gentle comedy about an oil
magnate seduced by the beauty of the Highlands, and
Gregory's Girl
(1980), about an awkward teenage schoolboy's
romantic exploits. The directing credits of Gillies MacKinnon
(1948-), another Glasgow native, include
Small Faces
(1996),
Regeneration
(1997) and
Hideous Kinky
(1998). Michael
Caton-Jones (1958-), director of
Memphis Belle
(1990) and
Rob Roy
(1995), was born in West Lothian and is a graduate of
Edinburgh University.
In the 1990s the rise of the director-producer-writer team of
Danny Boyle (English), Andrew Macdonald and John Hodge
(both Scottish) - who wrote the scripts for
Shallow Grave
(1994),
Trainspotting
(1996)
and
A Life Less Ordinary
(1997) - marked the beginnings of what might be described as a
Top Five Scot-
tish Films
»
The 39 Steps
(1935)
»
Whisky Galore!
(1949)
»
Local Hero
(1983)
»
Rob Roy
(1995)
»
Trainspotting
(1996)
