John Bellany was one of the most significant Northern European Expressionists of the modern era. As with all expressionists his art is highly subjective and autobiographical and his self-portraits range from carefully observed student studies to disguising himself in different roles within his epic pictorial narratives. This book concentrates on the role of self-portraiture in Bellany's art to trace and present the complex development of his artistic and personal obsessions and shows how he portrayed himself through a variety of mediums, including his private sketch books and a wide range of printing techniques as well as drawings and paintings. It includes a foreword by Helen Bellany, the artist's wife, plus an essay and interview from exhibition curators' Bill Hare and Sandy Moffat. Moffat's account charts his long-term friendship and collaboration with Bellany, from their time at art school up until the latter's death. AUTHORS: Bill Hare was born in Edinburgh in 1944 and studied at the University of Edinburgh and the Courtauld Institute, University of London, in the 1970s. He has taught art history at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art and the Open University. In 1985 he was appointed Exhibition Organiser at Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, working with many Scottish and international artists.Since 1995 he has concentrated on teaching and freelance curating, focussing on Scottish art since 1945. He has curated a number of important exhibitions both in Scotland and abroad, and has published books and catalogues on a range of different aspects of historical, modern and contemporary Scottish art. He was previously the Curator of The University of Edinburgh's Fine Art Collection and is currently an Honorary Fellow in Scottish art history at the University of Edinburgh. Alexander Moffat is an artist and teacher. Born in Dunfermline in 1943, he studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art. From 1968 to 1978 he was the Director of the New 57 Gallery in Edinburgh. In 1979 he joined the staff of The Glasgow School of Art where he was Head of Painting from 1992 until his retirement in 2005. His portraits of the major poets of the Scottish Renaissance movement now hang in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and his paintings are represented in many private and public collections, including the Yale Centre for British Art, USA and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. He was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 2004 and awarded an OBE for his services to the arts in 2006. Facing the Nation, by Bill Hare, a survey of Moffat's portraits from the 1960's onwards was published in 2018 by Luath Press. Helen Bellany was born in Golspie in Sutherland, in 1943 and studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1961 to 1965. It was there that she met John Bellany. They married in September 1964, divorced in 1979, before remarrying in 1986. They have three children; Jonathan, Paul and Anya. She is the author of The Restless Wave: My Two Lives with John Bellany published in 2018 by Sandstone Press.
