At the City Art Centre until 13 October 2019 there is an exhibition of fifty years of painting by one of the country’s leading artists Victoria Crowe.

Spanning four gallery floors this is part of Edinburgh Art Festival 2019 which begins on 25 July 2019. It shows a wealth of subject matter that Crowe has created over five decades, from landscapes in the Scottish Borders to Venice and portraits to designs for tapestries featuring among the 150 exhibits.

Her work is instantly recognisable even though she creates many different art forms.

Crowe’s first solo exhibition was in 1969 at the Scottish Gallery and by 2000 she had become a respected portraitist with commissions of Professor Peter Higgs and her most recent in 2018 of HRH Prince Charles. This hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.


Victoria Crowe said: “This exhibition spans a long period of my work as an artist — a chance to see the threads of ideas and their development over time. The exhibition will trace many concerns in the work, from starting points in sketch books through to finished works, commissions and the fruits of recent residences. As a gallery, the City Art Centre has been very supportive of Scottish artists, as its collection confirms, and I am delighted to be holding this major retrospective within their galleries.”

Councillor Donald Wilson, Convener of Culture and Communities said: “Victoria Crowe is one of the most respected artists of her generation and the City Art Centre will proudly host the first major study of her work.  

“Visitors will be able to discover early pieces produced by the artist as a student and as a lecturer for the Edinburgh College of Art. They will be able to discover Crowe’s instantly recognisable portraits and landscapes, including her series exploring the changing seasons and colours of the Pentland Hills – scenes which have become so synonymous with Edinburgh and with Scottish art. 

“Lifting the lid on Crowe’s 50-year career, we will showcase over 150 pieces across four floors. It will be the highlight exhibition of 2019.”  

There is a book to accompany the exhibition on sale in the gift shop at the gallery where they also now have a Mimi’s Bakehouse café.

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.