The Edinburgh Art Festival is an annual

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile art ...

festival, held in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, during August and coincides with the

Edinburgh International The Edinburgh International is an annual bonspiel, or curling tournament, that takes place in late November at the Murrayfield Curling Club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The tournament is held in a round robin format. History The tournament was start ...

and

Fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...

festivals. The Art Festival was established in 2004, and receives public funding from Creative Scotland. In 2022, Kim McAleese was appointed Festival Director, succeeding Sorcha Carey (2011 - 2021). Carey is now Director at Collective, Edinburgh.

Historical background

The

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...

began in 1947, and significant visual art exhibitions were included in the early years. Exhibitions included the French artists Pierre Bonnard and

Édouard Vuillard Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, he was a prominent member of the Nabis, making paintings which assembled areas of pure color, and interior sc ...

in 1948; a retrospective of the three

Scottish Colourists The Scottish Colourists were a group of four painters, three from Edinburgh, whose Post-Impressionist work, though not universally recognised initially, came to have a formative influence on contemporary Scottish art and culture. The four artists, ...

Samuel Peploe Samuel John Peploe (pronounced PEP-low; 27 January 1871 – 11 October 1935) was a Scottish Post-Impressionist painter, noted for his still life works and for being one of the group of four painters that became known as the Scottish Colouris ...

, Francis Cadell and

Leslie Hunter George Leslie Hunter (7 August 1877 – 7 December 1931) was a Scottish painter, regarded as one of the four artists of the Scottish Colourists group of painters. Christened simply George Hunter, he adopted the name Leslie in San Francisco, a ...

in 1949; and Rembrandt in 1950. Thereafter, there was acknowledgement from the Festival authorities that the visual arts needed to be more "emphatically represented" in the Festival itself, and a series of partnerships was forged between the Festival Society and the then Arts Council of Great Britain, the Royal Museum of Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland, the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and the Royal Scottish Academy. With a few exceptions, these looked beyond the art of Scotland and contributed to a declared part of the Festival’s international aims. Not only did the exhibitions bring the works of foreign artists to Scotland, they cultivated an interest in Scotland amongst wealthy collectors and patrons from around the world. From 1966, the visual arts existed outside the programme of the Edinburgh Festival, presented instead across a wide range of organisations, from the city's permanent galleries to artist-led initiatives. This left many galleries with no visible profile in August, a time when they were programming substantial exhibitions.

History of Edinburgh Art Festival

In 2001 a campaign by newspaper ''

Scotland on Sunday ''Scotland on Sunday'' is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by JPIMedia and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate '' The Scotsman''. It was originally printed in broadsheet format but in 20 ...

'' brought together a representative group of gallery directors, and the first visual art festival was piloted in 2004. Between 2005 and 2007 the organisation produced a Festival Guide, commissions, and collaborative projects, to celebrate and promote the exhibitions of Edinburgh museums and galleries in August, creating a collective and united marketing platform in which to showcase their artistic programmes. Since 2004 Edinburgh Art Festival has grown to be Scotland's largest annual visual arts festival, and comprising over 45 exhibitions across more than 30 venues. The festival has also commissioned or co-commissioned major artworks around the city by artists including Martin Creed, Callum Innes, Richard Wright and

Susan Philipsz Susan Mary Philipsz OBE (born 1965) is a Scottish artist who won the 2010 Turner Prize. Originally a sculptor, she is best known for her sound installations. She records herself singing a cappella versions of songs which are replayed over a pub ...

. Following a scaled down offering in 2020 due to the

Covid-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Edinburgh Art Festival launched a hybrid programme for summer 2021. The 2021 festival included work by

Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and distinguished professor of the arts at UC Santa Cruz. Early life Julien was born in the East End ...

, Archie Brennan, Emeka Ogboh,

Alberta Whittle Alberta Whittle (born 1980, Bridgetown, Barbados) is a Barbadian-Scottish multidisciplinary artist who works across media: film, sculpture, print, installation and performance. She lives and works in Glasgow. She was the winner of the Margaret T ...

, Sekai Machache, Christine Borland, Andrew Gannon, Karla Black and Alison Watt among others. Writing for the Art Newspaper, Tim Cornwell, noted that 'The

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

movement continues to resonate strongly over this weekend's post-Covid opening of Edinburgh Art Festival (EAF)'.

Venues

Venues in the festival include the Royal Botanic Garden, Jupiter Artland, Fruitmarket, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop and National Galleries of Scotland.

References

External links

*{{Official, https://edinburghartfestival.com/ Edinburgh Festival Arts festivals in Scotland Recurring events established in 2004 2004 establishments in Scotland Arts in Edinburgh Annual events in Edinburgh Arts organisations based in Scotland Summer events in Scotland

Historical background

History of Edinburgh Art Festival

Venues

See also

References

External links