An Tuireann, Portree, June 2003

Ossian - Fragments of Ancient Poetry (Calum Colvin)

WHEN JAMES MACPHERSON published ‘Fingal, an ancient epic poem in six books’ in 1762 he claimed this was a translation from the work of a Gaelic poet called Ossian.  This, along with ‘Fragments of Ancient Poetry’ from 1760, had taken the literary world by storm and Macpherson’s ‘translations’ were much admired by eminent figures, including Goethe.

Although there is no doubting Macpherson’s literary abilities (he was the son of a Kingussie farmer) his claims for the authenticity of the poems were challenged, principally by Dr Johnson.  When called upon to produce the original works Macpherson could only fabricate them, and when after his death a committee investigated the works, they found that he had edited (with great artistic license) traditional Gaelic poetry, adding his own verses where appropriate.

Thus, one of the great literary forgeries was exposed.  Here, in a body of new work the artist Calum Colvin plays with notions of authenticity and illusion and re-explores the Macpherson/Ossian controversy.  Colvin, who works in a variety of media including, painting, sculpture and photography, is an innovative, playful and complex artist.

He creates assemblages which employ trompe l’oeil techniques;  he then photographs the results and exhibits his large prints as the finished works, teasing and cajoling the viewer into deconstructing the meaning of the work and means employed to create it.  So just as Macpherson’s appropriation of literary fragments sparked a debate on authenticity and forgery, Colvin’s approach plays with notions of illusion, reality and fiction.

Where Macpherson played with literary and oral fragments, Colvin, 240 years later, plays with fragments of visual culture.  His ‘Twa Dugs’ shows the dogs Kaiser and Luath as representing the ongoing dichotomy of Scottish culture: the Old Firm.  Littered around this mindscape is the detritus of popular culture – Rangers and Celtic merchandise, a baby’s milk bottle, a tin whistle.

Colvin’s works are often based on pre-existing artworks (a bust by Bertel Thorvaldson, a portrait of Robert Burns by Archibald Skirving or Alexander Runciman’s visualisation of the bearded Ossian), thus referring to Scotland’s artistic past (most of the images are held by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, where this exhibition originated).

‘Ossian’ can be seen at the following venues:
An Tuireann, Portree, until 21 June 2003
Timespan, Helmsdale, 28 June – 26 July
St. Fergus Gallery, Wick, August 2003
Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, September 2003
Admission is free.

© Giles Sutherland, 2003

Related Links:

• Calum Colvin’s website