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Margot Sandeman

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Margot Sandeman
Born
Margot Sandeman

(1922-05-27)27 May 1922
Glasgow, Scotland
Died17 January 2009(2009-01-17) (aged 86)
EducationGlasgow School of Art
Known forPainting of West Coast Scottish landscapes
Notable workSheep Resting on the Shore
SpouseJames Robson
AwardsGuthrie Award, 1958

Margot Sandeman (27 May 1922 – 17 January 2009) was a Scottish painter, close friend of Joan Eardley and long-time collaborator with poet Ian Hamilton Finlay. She was known for her paintings of West Coast Scottish landscapes, rural settings, interiors and still lives.

Early life

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Glasgow School of Art, where Sandeman studied

Margot Sandeman was born in Glasgow to a family of Scottish artists, the daughter of self-taught watercolourist Archibald Sandeman (1887–1941), and internationally known embroiderer Muriel Boyd (1887–1981).[1][2] Sandeman grew up in Bearsden in a creative household, influenced by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement.[1] The family home was decorated by her mother with texts such as "Bread feeds the body but flowers the soul".[1]

Studies

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Sandeman studied at the Glasgow School of Art, where her contemporaries included Joan Eardley and the poet Ian Hamilton Finlay.[1][2] Sandeman was already a confident painter when she began art school and, like Eardley, one of a small group selected for special training by the head of drawing and painting, Hugh Adam Crawford. Both artists flourished under his experimental fast-track treatment.[2] Crawford commented on "the inner structure [of Sandeman's paintings], which is not an optical thing."[1]

Relationship with Joan Eardley

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Sandeman and Eardley met for the first time at Glasgow School of Art and became close friends.[3][4]

"We were very shy of each other for about a year," Sandeman remembers. "But Joan's mother and my mother enticed us to do a Red Cross course together. We started having to bandage each other, that broke the ice! After that we became tremendously great friends." [3]

Both lived in Bearsden and, although their styles were very different, they encouraged and supported each other,[5] drew and painted together, and shared camping trips and family holidays.[2] In 1941, as students, Sandeman and Eardley acquired a horse and caravan and travelled, sketched and painted around Loch Lomond.[2] For many years, the two women regularly visited High Corrie on the Isle of Arran, renting an outhouse, "The Tabarnacle", as a studio.[1][3]

In a review of a 1940s Society of Scottish Artists exhibition, a Scotsman art critic said,

"Miss Joan Eardley and Miss Margot Sandeman more than maintain the exciting promise of their first appearances […] Both are quite fearless and convinced exponents of highly individual outlooks."[3]

Work

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Bletchley Park, where Sandeman worked for a short time

Sandeman graduated from Glasgow School of Art during World War II and in 1942 was sent to Bletchley Park, where she worked for six months as a code-breaker.[2][1]

After leaving Bletchley to care for her mother, Sandeman took a studio in Glasgow. Her first work there was a series of vivid still-lives while, for paid employment, she painted antique effects on lampshades.[1]

In 1946 she married the teacher, potter and ceramic artist James Robson, with whom she had two sons.[2]

Prolific and wide-ranging, Sandeman worked in the open air, in the studio, and from memory, creating unique interpretations of West Coast Scottish landscapes, rural settings, interiors and still lives.[2] She collaborated regularly with poet Ian Hamilton Finlay.[2][4]

In later life Sandeman's range and output continued to increase, including a notable suite of paintings in celebration of Scottish dramatist and poet Robert McLellan, a neighbour in High Corrie.[1][2]

Exhibitions and awards

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Sandeman exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy from 1946-1972,[6] Cyril Gerber Fine Art, Compass Gallery, the Hughson Gallery, Glasgow, the Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, and the Lillie Art Gallery, Glasgow.[1]

Her principal solo exhibitions were at the Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh from 1974 onwards.[7]

In 1964 Sandeman won the Guthrie Award of the Royal Scottish Academy and in 1970, the Redpath Award from the Society of Scottish Artists.[8] She also received a Scottish Arts Council award in 1970.[7] In 1989 she was Scottish winner in the Laing Competition.[2]

Collections

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Sandeman's work is included in the permanent collection of the National Galleries of Scotland,[9] University of Stirling,[10] the Glasgow Life Museums,[11] the Fleming Collection,[12] among others.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Margot Sandeman: Scottish painter". The Times. 4 April 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Margot Sandeman". Herald Scotland. 11 April 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d "Brush with greatness". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Sandeman Margot – University of Stirling". www.stir.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  5. ^ Andreae, Christopher (2013). Joan Eardley. Lund Humphries. pp. 47–48. ISBN 9781848221147.
  6. ^ "Margot Sandeman - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  7. ^ a b David Buckman (1998). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 2, M to Z. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0-95326-095-X.
  8. ^ Frances Spalding (1990). 20th Century Painters and Sculptors. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1-85149-106-6.
  9. ^ "Margot Sandeman, Scottish". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Margot Sandeman (1922–2009)". University of Sterling. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  11. ^ "No More Sheep III, Margot Sandeman (1922–2009)". ArtUK. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Margot Sandeman: A New Fleming Collection Acquisition". Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  13. ^ Casely, Gordon (10 April 2009). "Margot Sandeman". The Herald (Scotland). Retrieved 30 May 2023.
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