iNational Galleries Scotland: NationalThe Mound / Princes Street
Catherine Opie: To Be Seen
This exhibition has ended.
Nearly 80 photographic portraits spanning 30 years by American artist Catherine Opie, her first solo show in Scotland, touring from London's NPG. At the Royal Scottish Academy.
Museum websiteMore in Edinburgh
In one room, a photograph of Opie breastfeeding her baby son hangs beside Picasso's Mother and Infant. Elsewhere, a 16th-century Madonna and Child is part of the conversation. Opie chose the pairings herself from the national collection.
Nearly 80 of her portraits fill the Royal Scottish Academy's grand rooms, set against blood-red and royal-blue walls, with 13 older paintings hung among them. The sitters include queer communities, children, surfers, high school footballers and political crowds, plus her own self-portraits. The List's reviewer called it "just people, photographed with remarkable intimacy". It is her first solo show in Scotland.
Entry is ticketed, and 12 to 14 October is pay what you can, from £5. Opie photographed her son Oliver in a tutu, the sort of photo your parents still pull up on their phone when you bring someone home.
Editor's pick
Nearly 80 photographic portraits from 30 years of Catherine Opie's work, touring from London's National Portrait Gallery to the Royal Scottish Academy for her first solo show in Scotland.
Look for
Self Portrait / Nursing, 2004
Opie breastfeeding her son, shown beside Picasso's Mother and Infant from 1902.
Self-Portrait/Cutting, 1993
A self-portrait made during the AIDS crisis, using her own body to speak about identity.
The high school footballers
Portraits of American football players, made around the time of the Iraq War, on masculinity and community.
Oliver in a Tutu and Oliver and Mrs Nibbles
Two portraits of her son Oliver, from the series on family and home.
The surfers, 2003
Atmospheric seascapes that look at the relationship between people and nature.
Good for
- Dates
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Also at National Galleries Scotland: National
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
8
- National Galleries Scotland: NationalM J Richardson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Colours of the Past: A Creative Writing ExhibitionCourtesy of The Writers' Museum
- Elizabeth Blackadder: A Life in ColourCourtesy of Dovecot Studios
- Blood and Guts: The Twists and Turns of Edinburgh's Medical HistorySurgeons' Hall Museums
- The Writers' MuseumStefan Schäfer, Lich (Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Camera Obscura & World of IllusionsInterestingfax, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Stills: Centre for PhotographyKirsty S. Ross / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- FruitmarketStefan Schäfer, Lich / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0