Unmasked: Exploring Scottish Portraiture
13th September, 2025 – 31st May, 2026
Edinburgh City Art Centre
2 Market Street,
Edinburgh EH1 1DE
The City Art Centre in Edinburgh surveys 400 years of Scottish portraiture, from Allan Ramsay and F.C.B. Cadell to Maud Sulter and Sekai Machache.
This autumn, the City Art Centre is opening a wide-ranging exhibition devoted to the art of portraiture in Scotland. Unmasked: Exploring Scottish Portraiture brings together more than 30 artists, spanning nearly four centuries of painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking and photography.
The exhibition draws from the institution’s own collection, which is recognised for its breadth in Scottish art. Names on display include historic figures such as George Jamesone, Allan Ramsay and Henry Raeburn, alongside modern and contemporary artists like Joan Eardley, Victoria Crowe, Maud Sulter and Sekai Machache.
City Art Centre, Museums & Galleries Edinburgh.
Portraiture may seem straightforward — a likeness of a sitter — but the exhibition seeks to emphasise its deeper complexities. “Behind every portrait is a series of stories – interwoven narratives about the sitter, the artist, and the circumstances that brought them together,” the curators note.
Curator Dr Helen Scott added: “Portraiture is such a compelling, multi-layered artform. Whether you’re looking at portraits that have been commissioned to publicly commemorate peoples’ lives and achievements, or private portrayals of friends and loved ones that give glimpses into personal relationships, there are so many stories to uncover.
“I’m really looking forward to sharing new research findings with our visitors. We have, for example, recently discovered fresh information regarding a rare 18th-century miniature portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie. And we’ll be displaying a number of new acquisitions for the first time, including artworks by Milein Cosman, David Eustace, George Jamesone, John Henry Lorimer and Flannery O’kafka. The exhibition celebrates Scotland’s rich tradition of portraiture, but it also demonstrates how absolutely relevant the genre remains today.”
Among the historical highlights are Ramsay’s Katherine Hall of Dunglass (c.1736), James Cadenhead’s richly detailed Lady with Japanese Screen and Goldfish (1886) and the Scottish Colourist F.C.B. Cadell’s celebrated The Black Hat (1914).
Twentieth- and twenty-first-century works expand the narrative. They include Pat Douthwaite’s vibrant tribute to aviator Amy Johnson, Final Instructions Before Take-Off (1976); Sulter’s self-portrait Calliope (1989), which confronts themes of identity and history; and Machache’s paired works A Hint of Blue I and II (2021), with their layered symbolism.
By placing these works together, Unmasked offers a study of portraiture as both a record and an exploration — a genre that reveals as much about society and history as about the individual subject.
Unmasked: Exploring Scottish Portraiture opens on the 13th of September, 2025 until the 31st of May, 2026 at Edinburgh City Art Centre
©2025 City Art Centre, Museums & Galleries Edinburgh
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