{{Short description|Scottish painter and printmaker}} {{for|the Canadian businesswoman|Barbara J. Rae}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Use British English|date=February 2017}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = Dame | name = Barbara Rae | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE|RA|FRSE}} | image = | caption = | birth_name = Barbara Davis Rae | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1943|12|10}} | birth_place = Falkirk, Scotland | spouse = | field = Painting, printmaking | training = | alma_mater = Edinburgh College of Art | movement = | works = | awards = Guthrie Award, 1977 | elected = | website = {{URL|barbararae.com}} }}
'''Dame Barbara Davis Rae''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE|RA|FRSE}} (born 10 December 1943) is a Scottish painter and printmaker. She is a member of the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy of Arts.<ref name=ben>{{cite book|last=Zucca|first=Damon|title=Benezit dictionary of British graphic artists and illustrators.|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0199923052|pages=248–49}}</ref>
==Biography== Rae studied painting at the Edinburgh College of Art from 1961 to 1965.<ref name=ben/> As a student, she worked as a grouse-beater in the Scottish Highlands.<ref name=ben/> "I loved being up there walking the hills, seeing the landscape, drawing it," Rae said in a 2013 interview.<ref name=interview/> "Geography was really important to me and it still plays a huge role in my art."<ref name=interview/> After graduating, Rae received a travel scholarship that allowed her to spend time painting in France and Spain.<ref name=ben/><ref name=royal>{{cite web|title=Barbara Rae RA|url=http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/academicians/painters/barbara-rae-ra,198,AR.html|publisher=Royal Academy of Arts|accessdate=10 February 2014}}</ref>
That experience and her later travel shaped her art, which largely focuses on landscapes.<ref name=ben/> She exhibited in her first solo show in 1967 at the Edinburgh's New 57 Gallery.<ref name=royal/> During her early career, she taught art at Ainslie Park School in Edinburgh (1968–69), Portobello High School (1969-1972), and the Aberdeen College of Education (1972–74).<ref name=stour>{{cite web|title=Barbara Rae RA|url=http://www.thestourgallery.co.uk/portfolio/barbara-rae-ra/paintings|publisher=The Stour Gallery|accessdate=10 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222001257/http://www.thestourgallery.co.uk/portfolio/barbara-rae-ra/paintings|archive-date=22 February 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1975, she became a lecturer in drawing and painting at the Glasgow School of Art, where she worked until 1996.<ref name=ben/>
During this time, Rae exhibited regularly and received many awards for her artwork. In 1980, she was elected as an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy; she became a full member in 1992.<ref name=stour/> In 1983, she was elected president of the Society of Scottish Artists.<ref name=stour/> She was appointed as a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland in 1995.<ref name=stour/> Rae also became a member of the Royal Academy of Art in 1996. In 1999, she was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.<ref name=stour/> She is also a Royal Etcher, a Fellow of the Royal College of Art, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Rae's work is held by institutions including the University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, British Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Whitworth Art Gallery.<ref name=royal/> The first monograph on her work was in its third printing as of 2013.<ref name=blog>{{cite web|title=Book of the Week: Barbara Rae, with texts by her husband Gareth Wardell, Andrew Lambirth and Bill Hare|url=http://modernbritishartists.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/book-of-the-week-barbara-rae-with-texts-by-gareth-wardell-andrew-lambirth-and-bill-hare/|publisher=Lund Humphries|accessdate=10 February 2014|date=11 June 2013}}</ref>
Rae has homes in Scotland, Los Angeles, and France and often travels elsewhere in Europe and the southwest United States.<ref name=interview/> She is married to Gareth Wardell.
==Style== thumb|''Broadhaven'' by Barbara Rae The Royal Academy of Arts' magazine ''RA'' has described Rae's works as "intense colour bursts that evoke dramatic landscapes but remain resolutely abstract", "distil[ling] the colour, light and forms of nature into dazzling visions".<ref name=interview/> Rather than mixing paints on a palette, Rae applies unmixed acrylic paints to the canvas itself and then pours fluid over them to blend them.<ref name=interview/> The bright colors of her paintings and prints diverge from the typical colors of Scottish art.<ref name=ben/><ref name=interview/> Rae has said that she does not regard herself as a Scottish artist, though her "relationship with the landscape and history of the west coast of Scotland" has inspired much of her art.<ref name=interview>{{cite news|last=Greenberg |first=Sarah |title=Out to lunch: Barbara Rae RA |url=http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/spring-2010/out-to-lunch-barbara-rae-ra,243,RAMA.html |accessdate=10 February 2014 |newspaper=RA |date=Spring 2010 |publisher=Royal Academy of Arts |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221231249/http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/spring-2010/out-to-lunch-barbara-rae-ra%2C243%2CRAMA.html |archivedate=21 February 2014 }}</ref>
Rae's travel has greatly influenced her art.<ref name=ben/> Beginning in the 1960s, Rae travelled extensively in Spain, Ireland, France, and the southwest United States.<ref name=ben/><ref name=blog/> These travels "generated a body of work which indicated a deep interest in the history as well as the aesthetics of landscape".<ref name=ben/> Rae has said of her approach to her subjects, "I'm not interested in topographical detail. I need to be able to immerse myself in the culture of a place to create art."<ref name=interview/>
==Awards and honors== *Scottish Arts Council Award (1975)<ref name=ben/> *Guthrie Medal (Royal Scottish Academy) (1977)<ref name=ben/> *Scottish Arts Council Award (1981)<ref name=ben/> *Calouste Gulbenkian Printmaking Award (1983)<ref name=ben/> *Sir William Gillies Travel Award (Royal Scottish Academy) (1983)<ref name=royal/> *May Marshall Brown Award (The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour) (1983)<ref name=cv/> *Scottish Arts Council grant (1989)<ref name=cv/> *Hunting Group Prize (1990)<ref name=royal/> *Alexander Graham Munro Award (The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour)<ref name=cv/> *Commander of the Order of the British Empire<ref name=cv/> *Honorary doctorate, Napier University (2002)<ref name=cv/> *Honorary doctorate, Aberdeen University<ref name=cv/> *Honorary fellowship, Royal College of Art (2008)<ref name=cv/> *Honorary doctorate, University of St Andrews<ref name=cv/> *Elected a Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh (2011)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rse.org.uk/fellow/barbara-rae/|title=Dr Barbara Davis Rae CBE FRSE|date=2019-07-05|website=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-07-11}}</ref>
==Solo exhibitions== {{col-begin}} {{col-break}} *1967 - New 57 Gallery, Edinburgh<ref name=royal/> *1977 - Gilbert Parr Gallery, London *1978 - University of Edinburgh *1979 - The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh *1983 - The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh *1985 - Wright Gallery, Dallas, Texas, USA *1986 - Leinster Fine Art, London *1987 - The Scottish Gallery, London *1988 - Glasgow Print Studio *1989 - The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh *1990 - Landmarks and Docklands, The Scottish Gallery, London *1991 - The Scottish Gallery, London *1992 - Perth Museum and Art Gallery *1992 - Earth Pattern, William Jackson Gallery, London *1993 - New Monotypes and Prints, Glasgow Print Studio *1993 - The Reconstructed Landscape, Highland Regional Council, touring the North of Scotland *1994 - Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin *1994 - Theatre Andre Dumas, Germain-en-Laye *1994 - The Reconstructed Landscape, Harewood House, Leeds *1995 - Art First, London *1995 - The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh *1996 - Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin *1996 - Art First, London *1996 - Waxlander Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA *1996 - Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames *1997 - New Paintings, (The South Africa Series), Art First, London {{col-break}} *1998 - The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh *1998 - Edinburgh The Festival City, Galleri Galtung, Oslo *1999 - The Painted Desert, Art First, London *2000 - West, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh *2001 - Zuma Beach, Art First, London *2002 - Paintings from Ireland, Art First, London *2003 - Travelog, Glasgow Print Studio *2003 - an-tiarthar – the West, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh *2004 - Print Exhibition, North House Gallery, Essex *2004 - New Paintings, The Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast *2005 - Barbara Rae Monotypes, The Scottish Gallery *2005 - Print Exhibition, North House Gallery, Essex *2005 - New Paintings, Adam Gallery, London & Bath *2006 - Sierra - New Paintings from Spain, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh *2008 - New Paintings, Adam Gallery, London & Bath *2009 - Vignettes from Ireland, Adam Gallery, London *2009 - Recent Paintings, Richmond Hill Gallery, London *2010 - Barbara Rae RA: Prints, Sir Hugh Casson Room, Royal Academy, London *2010 - Celtic Connections Adam Gallery, London<ref name=cv>{{cite web|title=Barbara Rae|url=http://www.gpsart.co.uk/Uploads/Artists/Biography/42.pdf|publisher=Glasgow Print Studio|accessdate=10 February 2014}}</ref> *2014 - University of St Andrews, Glasgow<ref>{{cite web|title=Barbara Rae RA Place and Process|date=26 August 2014|url=https://www.thecourier.co.uk/lifestyle/entertainment/155494/artist-barbara-rae-on-land-culture-and-her-display-at-st-andrews-university/|accessdate=30 September 2019}}</ref> *2016 - Portland Gallery, London<ref>{{cite web|title=Barbara Rae CBE RA 2016|url=http://www.portlandgallery.com/exhibitions/561/barbara-rae-cbe-ra-2016|accessdate=30 September 2019}}</ref> *2018 - Barbara Rae: The Northwest Passage - The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalscottishacademy.org/exhibitions/barbara-rae-the-northwest-passage/|title=BARBARA RAE: THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE | Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture|date=8 January 2018}}</ref> *2018 - Barbara Rae: The Northwest Passage with Inuit sculpture from the Belle Shenkman Collection - Canada Gallery, Canada House, London <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/united_kingdom-royaume_uni/events-evenements/gallery_the_northwest_passage_barbara-rae_le_passage_du_nord-ouest_galerie.aspx?lang=eng|title = Canada Gallery: Barbara Rae: The Northwest Passage| date=26 April 2021 }}</ref> {{col-end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|title=Barbara Rae|year=2008|publisher=Lund Humphries|isbn=978-0853319900|author=Gareth Wardell|author2=Bill Hare|author3= Andrew Lambirth|author4= Barbara Rae}} *{{cite book|title=Barbara Rae: Sketchbooks|year=2011|publisher=Royal Academy of Arts|isbn=978-1907533105|author=Richard Cork|author2=Gareth Wardell|author3= Barbara Rae}} *{{cite book|title=Barbara Rae: Prints|year=2010|publisher=Royal Academy of Arts|isbn=978-1905711581|author=Andrew Lambirth|author2=Gareth Wardell|author3= Barbara Rae}}
==External links== *[http://www.barbararae.com/ Official site] * {{Art UK bio}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rae, Barbara}} Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century British printmakers Category:21st-century British printmakers Category:20th-century Scottish painters Category:21st-century Scottish painters Category:21st-century Scottish women artists Category:Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:People from Falkirk Category:Presidents of the Society of Scottish Artists Category:Royal Academicians Category:Royal Scottish Academicians Category:Scottish printmakers Category:British women printmakers Category:Guthrie Award winners Category:20th-century Scottish women painters Category:21st-century British women painters