At long last, the visual arts are well represented at Edinburgh festival

Ruaridh Nicoll reports in The Observer: “Not long ago, artists would complain about the degraded place the visual arts occupied at the festival. Sure, the various galleries would do their thing. Openings would take place around now each year but they would be exclusive affairs. Brian McMaster, the previous director of the International Festival, had shrugged off the visual arts. Timothy Clifford, the former director of the National Galleries, had little empathy towards the contemporary. The city’s commercial galleries were, not unreasonably, preoccupied with selling the work of the current Royal Scottish Academicians. Then came Richard Ingleby. He shifted the city up a gear. His artists have international clout, painters such as Howard Hodgkin, Alison Watt, Callum Innes, and the sculptor, now sadly gone, Ian Hamilton Finlay. Ingleby’s arrival was followed by Susanna Beaumont, with Doggerfisher. Doggerfisher’s summer show is, serendipitously, the Turner contender, Nathan Coley.” Read more.