Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery
Encyclopedia
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. The town lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth; SSE of Glenrothes, ENE of Dunfermline, WSW of Dundee and NNE of Edinburgh...
in Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The land for the town's museum and art gallery was donated by John Nairn (the grandson of the linoleum manufacturer, Michael Nairn) on the former site of Balsusney House, the home of John Maxton. This was opened in 1925, with the first chairman of trustee's local cloth-manufacturer businessman John Blyth, the maternal grandfather of politician Michael Portillo
Michael Portillo
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister...
.
The art gallery holds the largest collection of paintings by William McTaggart
William McTaggart
William McTaggart was a Scottish landscape painter who was influenced by Impressionism.-Life and work:...
and Scottish Colourist
Scottish Colourists
The Scottish Colourists were a group of painters from Scotland whose work was not very highly regarded when it was first exhibited in the 1920s and 1930s, but which in the late 20th Century came to have a formative influence on contemporary Scottish art....
Samuel Peploe
Samuel Peploe
Samuel John Peploe was a Scottish Post-Impressionist painter, noted for his still life works and for being one of the group of four painters that became known as the Scottish Colourists...
aside from the National Galleries of Scotland
National Galleries of Scotland
The National Galleries of Scotland are the five national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries. It is one of the country's National Collections.-List of national galleries:* The National Gallery of Scotland* The Royal Scottish Academy Building...
.
The museum also contains many significant works by the Glasgow Boys and is the only Scottish art gallery to own paintings by the Fife artist, Jack Vettriano
Jack Vettriano
Jack Vettriano OBE born Jack Hoggan , is a Scottish painter.- Early life :Jack Vettriano grew up in the industrial seaside town of Methil, Fife. He left school at 16 and later became an apprentice mining engineer. Vettriano did not take up painting as a hobby until the 1970s, when a girlfriend...
. Situated on the ground floor, is the museum's award-winning permanent exhibition covering the town's industrial heritage. The museum also has a cafe which hosts some Wemyss Ware
Wemyss Ware
Wemyss Ware is the brand name of the Griselda Hill Pottery, which is situated in the village of Ceres, Fife, Scotland.It was established in 1985 to produce colourful pottery based on the local Wemyss Ware that was made in Sinclairtown in the 19th century...
pottery, made in the town from around 1890s to 1930s.