Nightfall - Portrait of George Mackay Brown

Artist Erik Hoffmann (Leoben, Austria, born 1952)

Sitter George MacKay Brown (Stromness, Orkney, Scotland, 1921 - 1996)

Date1988

Mediumtempera on panel

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 43.8 cm, Width: 65.9 cm
Frame: Height: 59.2 cm, Width: 80.9 cm

AcquisitionPurchased in 1989 with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG008451

Keywords

About MeCelebrated internationally as a poet, short story writer and novelist, George Mckay Brown has recieved many awards including an OBE and the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Prize.

Stromness, the place of his birth, was his lifelong home and his writing is firmly rooted in is Orcadian heritage. The life, history and geography of the Orkneys are central to his work, which is frequently concerned with fundamnetal themes such as death, rebirth, humanity's relationship with Nature and Man's place in the universe.

Hoffman, who lives in Kassell in Germany attended Glasgow School of Art in the early 1980's. Thereafter he made regular trips to Scotland painting its people and its landscape. In 1989 Aberdeen Art Gallery hosted a touring exhibition of Hoffman's work from which it bought this intense portrait. Executed in tempera, the artist uses a meticulous surface realism to capture his sitter's likeness.
More About Me

Collections Wall

Superb atmospheric portrait of the celebrated Orcadian poet and novelist who lived in Stromness all his life.