Kelvingrove displays Alasdair Gray works from decade-old bequest

Nine works by Scottish artist Alasdair Gray have gone on display at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum this past weekend, marking the first public showing of pieces.

The works come from The Morag McAlpine Bequest, a collection gifted to Glasgow Life Museums by Gray following the death of his wife Morag McAlpine in 2014.

The exhibition, titled ‘Alasdair Gray: Works from The Morag McAlpine Bequest’, celebrates 10 years since the donation was made to the city. The display opens in what would have been Gray’s 90th year and is housed in the Fragile Art Gallery at Kelvingrove, the venue where Gray credited a weekend art class with sparking his early love of painting.

Featured works include the original design artwork for Poor Things, Gray’s 1992 novel, the wrap-around jacket for Old Negatives, artwork in progress for the jacket design of Agnes Owens’ People Like That, and A Working Mother.

Katie Bruce, producer curator with Glasgow Life, said: the artist “showed great generosity when he gifted The Morag McAlpine Bequest to the city, following the passing of his wife.

“These personal gifts for anniversaries, birthdays, and Christmas, include portraits later transformed into characters in his work and framed drawings for book covers and dust jackets, both for his own publications and those of fellow writers. Among them is the original cover design for Poor Things, which many will now recognise from the recent film adaptation.”

“It is fitting and wonderful to display this collection in a place that meant so much to Gray, and to offer audiences a deeper understanding of his innovative practice and extraordinary talent.”

The Morag McAlpine Bequest adds to the existing Alasdair Gray collection held by Glasgow Life Museums, which includes the City Recorder series from 1977-78, some of which can be viewed at the Gallery of Modern Art.