The Royal Scottish Academy was founded 200 years ago this year, and is celebrating throughout 2026 with exhibitions, talks, screenings, and special events exploring Scottish art and architecture all across the country. Each of the participating partners presents something unique, with a focus that highlights an artistic story with relevance to them.
Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum, Dunfermline
As the name suggests, this museum is dedicated to Andrew Carnegie and is also where he was born. The addition of a ‘museum hall’—coincidentally designed by RSA member James Shearer—to the original little cottage by Carnegie’s widow means that the visitor can learn not only about Carnegie’s early life in Dunfermline but also about his entrepreneurship and his decision to give away 90% of his personal wealth. The story is a fascinating one, and the artefacts on display help to bring his life and work to life more vividly.
The RSA 200 exhibition concentrates on the Carnegie Travelling Scholarship, awarded each year since 1903, generally just to one individual Scottish artist. This is a rare exception to Carnegie’s usual philanthropy, which concentrated on projects he believed would improve society generally, rather than the individual personally. Many of the recipients of the Scholarship went on to become Royal Scottish Academicians themselves and famous in their own right. The scholarship encouraged travel, and each recipient kept up a correspondence during their travels, describing where they had been, what they had seen, and what artistic work they had undertaken.
The addition of a ‘museum hall’—coincidentally designed by RSA member James Shearer—to the original little cottage by Carnegie’s widow means that the visitor can learn not only about Carnegie’s early life in Dunfermline but also about his entrepreneurship and his decision to give away 90% of his personal wealth.
The exhibition has a roll call of the Scholarship recipients right up to 2025, and there are examples of some of the letters they wrote, including a telegram saying simply, ‘Send money’. The stipend was paid in instalments, and recipients needed to plan carefully—both itineraries and how to make ends meet. There are examples of sketchbooks and paintings by several of the Scholars, including Joan Eardley, Elizabeth Blackadder, William Crozier, and the first recipient, Andrew Archer Gamley. The paintings appear to demonstrate the lasting influence on the artists of their earlier travels, as they often depict scenes from countries visited whilst on their Scholarships.
The exhibition isn’t extensive, but there is so much to see and learn in this compact space—it’s really well curated—that visitors won’t be disappointed. It is part of Carnegie’s larger story, and so visitors will be treated to information and related artworks about a less well-known part of his story while this exhibition continues.
The Old Fire Station, Dunfermline
The RSA 200 exhibition at the old Fire Station in Dunfermline is called ‘Power from the Glen’, and is a collection of architectural drawings, engineering plans, and watercolours for the hydro-electricity project from the late 1940s that brought affordable electricity to the Highlands of Scotland. Many of the artworks are by James Shearer (he of the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum, and who also coincidentally designed the old Fire Station too). While the idea of technical drawings might not sound very exciting, I was transfixed.
They are beautiful in all their Art Deco glory. The watercolours are quite different and really not what I had expected—a vision of what the Highland scenery could look like after the power stations were built. Quite fanciful, perhaps, and almost certainly a marketing ploy to counteract inevitable complaints that the buildings would destroy the environment. I have to say that the slightly crumpled engineering drawing of Clunie Generating Station was by far my favourite piece, approved by the Secretary of State in 1949. I think it’s gorgeous and would happily have a copy on my wall.
Go and take a look for yourself. You may well think I’ve lost my senses. I certainly and unexpectedly lost my heart to this perfectly formed little exhibition. And the cafe is a welcome bonus on any trip to a gallery.
Cupar Museum & Heritage Centre, Cupar
The Heritage Centre in Cupar is all part of the railway station complex, so parking is a dream. If you come by public transport, it goes without saying you could come by train—but the bus stops right outside too. It rather hides its light under a bushel, but I suspect there may be planning regs that dictate how big and bold—or otherwise—their signage can be.
But don’t walk on by if you’re in town. This wee place is a hidden gem, and its volunteers are welcoming, knowledgeable, and happy to tell you whatever you might want to know. The Centre comprises only two rooms, and the RSA 200 exhibition ‘Four Paintings, A Scandal and An Angel’ is housed in the first room as you come in. The four paintings all relate to the scandal: Cupar-born artist Charles Lees studied under Raeburn in Edinburgh and supplemented his income by tutoring there. Two of the portraits are of Lees—young and older—one is of Baberton House, where he tutored, and the last is a print of his most famous work, ‘The Golfers at St Andrews Links 1847’. So far, so conventional.
But, inevitably perhaps, Lees and his tutee fell in love. Elizabeth was only eighteen, and her family forbade the relationship, so Lees and Elizabeth eloped, married at Gretna Green, and honeymooned in Rome. Made a ward of court by her father, the couple were hunted down, but the best part of the exhibition for me was the hand-written (by a volunteer) transcription of extracts from the diary Elizabeth kept whilst on honeymoon. After a bit of a rocky start with her new husband, things seemed to quickly turn romantic, but Elizabeth is very forthright in her views on foreigners, their artistic abilities, and manners! Great fun to read, and a stroke of genius to make them look like they are in her handwriting. Oh, and the good news is that they came home, had a more conventional second wedding ceremony, and enjoyed a long and happy marriage, despite an almost twenty-year age gap.
The Angel, in this case, stands on top of the war memorial in town. After the First World War, the Town Council asked the RSA to recommend a sculptor for their memorial, and Henry Snell Gamley RSA was chosen. His brother, Andrew Archer Gamley, was a Carnegie Travelling Scholarship recipient: small world! The winged Victory—the Angel of Peace—is beautiful and really very imposing. The plinth was designed by John Kinross of Edinburgh, and the memorial was unveiled by Field Marshall Earl Haig in 1922.
For a relatively small town, there’s plenty of history and stories of interest and intrigue, and it’s well worth making a trip, especially to see this little exhibition. While you’re there, look out for the cell doors from the old police station, the clock from the Sheriff Court, and, in the second room, the exhibitions about Elmwood College in the town and the sugar beet industry. One of those things you will have doubtless known nothing about, but about which the volunteers are now very knowledgeable and will answer all your questions.
Beware the current roadworks which are causing long delays. If you’re driving to the Centre, better to come to it along the main street than coming in on South Road. Even if you get caught in the traffic, though, it’s worth the wait.
St. Andrews Museum, St. Andrews
The St Andrews Museum is tucked away and at the moment has roadworks outside, but it’s still accessible and has parking on site if you need it. I was a student in St Andrews, and to my shame, I don’t think I ever went into the Museum. Even as an enlightened student, I think I thought that museum = dull old stuff.
Well, the current exhibition—’Living Colour: Celebrating 200 Years of the RSA’—couldn’t be further from dull. It’s a riot of colour as the name suggests, and I really believe that there is something for everyone here. As you walk upstairs to the gallery on the first floor, you are met with a huge projection of the artworks. Not just a slide show, but beautifully morphing from one piece to the next. There is no accompanying sound, which I really loved. I also loved the welcoming seating area, to encourage visitors to sit awhile and admire the artworks, all by Scottish RSA artists, some of whom you’ll probably have heard of and others maybe not.
Well, the current exhibition—’Living Colour: Celebrating 200 Years of the RSA’—couldn’t be further from dull. It’s a riot of colour as the name suggests, and I really believe that there is something for everyone here.
And if you’ve heard of none of them, it really doesn’t matter, because the eclectic mix of genres and styles, as well as artists, is a real feast for the eyes, and the brilliance of this exhibition is that it mixes them all up, so the eye doesn’t get tired of the same thing. The range is breathtaking. Don’t worry if you know nothing about art—this is a really bright and welcoming place with lovely staff who will help out if needed, but leave you be if you just want to wander uninterrupted.
There’s a cafe downstairs if you want a break and then to pop back upstairs. And there’s a lovely ‘art room’ where workshops are held, but which is otherwise a great space for children to go and dabble. They are lucky to have a decent amount of space here, and it was a beautiful sunny day when I visited, so the light was perfect. I really commend the curation of this exhibition and the very clear explanations on the accompanying labels. Curator Lesley-Anne Lettice explained that they are currently collaborating with galleries in other parts of the UK, and so not all of the women artists she’d have liked to have been represented were available, as they were off on their travels soon. But she really piqued my interest when she mentioned how many works of art are held by OnFife, and I’m definitely booking onto the next Collections Centre tour in Glenrothes to get a better idea of the scope.
These exhibitions are so different, as are the buildings in which they are held. Each one is fascinating and enlightening, fun and uplifting, depending on your interests and how comfortable you are in big or small spaces. Don’t believe that ‘this is not for me’—give them a go and see if you can prove yourself wrong. If you don’t enjoy one, you might just love another one. As they say in the Heritage Centre in Cupar, ‘Come for the paintings and stay for the scandal!’ Art is—and should be—fun. It certainly is in Fife.
Featured Image: James Shearer RSA, Sheet No 10 of Constructional Scheme No. 30, the Farrar and Kilmorack Project. Courtesy of SSE. On display as part of Power from the Glens_ James Shearer, RSA and Contemporarie
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