Dutch Art Exhibition on ArtUK

The closure of museums has prompted ArtUK to create a new tool for curating virtual exhibitions using artwork from collections across the UK.  Since the Stirling Smith’s exhibiting exhibition programme for 2020 has been delayed, we thought we would test this new ‘Curations’ tool out with an exhibition looking at

Continue reading

Introducing: Journeys in Art

The Stirling Smith is launching a weekly art history video series beginning on 17 June. While the museum is closed we still feel it is important to produce engaging content for the community.  We hope that you will enjoy this introduction to art history series. What was rebellious about the

Continue reading

Online Mindful Art Sessions Offer Respite During Coronavirus Lockdown

Together with a local mindfulness business, Tranceform Therapies, the Stirling Smith has been hosting free online mindfulness sessions on our Facebook page. The sessions, which began on 13 May, take place every second Wednesday via Facebook Live and look at a different painting each time. The first session focused on A

Continue reading

Stirling Smith Paintings in Animal Crossing New Horizons

On Monday, 18 May we celebrated International Museum Day with museums and galleries across the world…and now in the digital sphere.  Nintendo’s latest release, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has taken the world by storm and it too, is celebrating International Museum Day.   For those who don’t know, the game

Continue reading

The Stirling Wolf

Have you ever wandered around Stirling and noticed wolves decorating many parts of the city? The reason for this is that the wolf is a symbol of Stirling and has been since the early medieval period. Long ago, in the 9th century, the small town of Stirling found itself on

Continue reading

Black Beast Wanderer

In keeping with the weather brought by the #beastfromtheeast, the featured image is of the only Scottish beast which can truly withstand freezing temperatures. ‘Black Beast Wanderer’ is the title of Joseph Denovan Adam’s study of a solitary highland cow, caught up in a snow storm. Adam (1842 – 1896)

Continue reading

David Cox at the Smith

Until this Sunday only, there is a small exhibition of 14 works by the eminent English watercolourist, David Cox (1783 – 1859). The works are from the Stirling Smith’s own collection, and are part of the bequest of the founder, Thomas Stuart Smith. The exhibition is curated by intern Annika

Continue reading

Gil Blas

Featured today is one of T. S Smith’s lesser known paintings. It is an illustration for an episode in the novel ‘Gil Blas’ written by Alain-Rene Lesage in 1735. Few today know anything of this novel, but it was read, appreciated and referenced by many other writers including Jonathan Swift,

Continue reading

The Star Spangled Barrel

People sometimes question the ‘relevance’ of museum collections.  Right now, the Stirling Smith’s collection is the inspiration for an international anti-gun campaign in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, 1 October.   Black American artist and political activist  Ray Noland, who helped Obama’s election campaign in 2008

Continue reading

The Pity of War

  Anda Paterson RSW RGI GSWA (born 1935) is one of the best known and most prolific Scottish artists working today.  Her work is represented in many public collections, including Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness and Glasgow Art Galleries.  She is known for her depictions of ordinary people going about their daily

Continue reading