The Glasgow Boys in North Africa
The Arts Society Dumfries and Galloway Tuesday 10th March 2026 11am – 12.30pm
The lure of North Africa for three 19th century Scottish artists.
The Glasgow Boys were a group of young, progressive painters working in and around Glasgow in the 1880s–1890s who reshaped Scottish art by breaking away from academic convention and embracing modern, international influences.
The group’s work explored Realism and Naturalism as developed by French and Dutch artists but by the late 1880s, the Glasgow Boys were moving towards a more decorative approach which led them to explore the colour and exoticism of North Africa. The smell, sounds and brilliant light of the Moroccan people and animals, the dazzling white buildings and blue seas of Tangiers are reflected through the paintings of Arthur Melville, Joseph Crawhall and John Lavery.
Professor Frances Fowle is Senior Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland and Chair of Nineteenth Century Art at The University of Edinburgh. She is the author of Van Gogh’s Twin: The Scottish Art Dealer Alexander Bell and has curated numerous international exhibitions including Van Gogh in Britain:Pioneer Collectors in 2006. She was the 2002 Van Gogh Museum Visiting Fellow and is on the advisory board of the Van Gogh Worldwide Project, a digital platform for all works by Van Gogh.
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