The Duncan Brown Photographic Collection
The collection consists of 305 photographs taken between 1853 and 1896. Sitters included local dignitaries, friends and family including John Brown, Queen Victoria's Ghillie. The collection also includes landscapes and the streets of Glasgow, particularly around the Pollokshields area on the south side of the city. Other subjects include ships, ship yards and stately houses.
Brown, Duncan
Papers and photographs of Holmes Gray, student at the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland
The collection includes:
This material may contain sensitive information about individuals that is protected by the Data Protection Act. Until this material has been checked for sensitive information, it will not be available for researchers. Once this Data Protection work is complete the collection will be open for access, however any sensitive information will be closed and inaccessible for 75 years from the date of creation.
Gray, Holmes
Art, Design and Architecture collection
Artworks, design pieces and architectural designs related to Glasgow School of Art staff and students.
Items include
Almost all works are by former students and staff or figures related to the history of The Glasgow School of Art. The earliest pieces date from the 16th century and later examples have been purchased from recent Degree Shows. The work is in a variety of media and includes drawings, paintings, prints, sketchbooks, furniture and sculpture. Artists represented include many key figures and the most influential and successful students.
There are also several works from former tutors including Neil Dallas Brown, David Donaldson and Fred Selby, alongside contemporary works by students, donated or purchased at degree show. Key works include those by: Maurice Greiffenhagen, Francis Newbery, John Quinton Pringle, Benno Schotz, Ian Fleming and James D Robertson. Suites of note include large collections of Joan Eardley sketches and paintings, Joan Palmer prints, and architectural drawings by Eugene Bourdon.
*Not available / given
The Giusti Plaster Cast Collection
Collection of items related to the Glasgow based firm J. Giusti & Co. which specialized in the production of plaster figures, mould making, statuary repair, and other plaster work. The collection is primarily composed of plaster busts and portraits, six moulds, and two medals. The casts and moulds are formed after a range of sculptural styles including ancient Greek and Roman, French Gothic, Italian Renaissance, and 19th century anatomical studies.
The Giusti Plaster Cast Collection highlights mould making and casting processes that were used to produce objects for retail and to repair existing plaster casts. Records from The Glasgow School of Art document purchases and repairs from J. Giusti & Co. from as early as 1890, and casts related to those in the collection were widely used as teaching and learning tools at the GSA through at least mid-20th century.
As most of the items in the collection were used in commercial casting processes, very few items have a plain white, white washed, or decoratively painted surface that are often observed in plaster cast collections. Many of the plaster casts and all of the plaster moulds are widely covered with uneven layers of shellac that appear yellow, red, or brown. Shellac was applied as a sealant and resist agent to prevent existing plaster elements from sticking to fresh plaster elements during the casting process.
In addition to the plaster casts and plaster moulds, several items provide further insights into the material processes employed by J. Giusti & Co. Two medals (likely bronze) showcase the company's involvement with mould making for metal casting, and a gelatine mould is a surviving example of a traditional process used to produce detailed casts in small quantities.
Proudfoot, Alexander
Collection of plaster casts comprising human figures, architectural fragments, plaster friezes, plaster reliefs, marble reliefs, tondos and busts.
Casts were used as an important teaching aid by the School, from the late 19th century onwards. The casts are generally based on classical statuary and were originally sourced from Greek, Roman and later Italian and medieval periods. Whilst not totally unique (most art schools in the UK and across Europe owned their own collections, purchased from established suppliers in London, Paris etc.), their continued existence within their original setting gives them an added significance. Importantly, the Glasgow School of Art's photographic archive contains many period images of how these casts have been used by staff and students since they were first introduced.
The majority of GSA's plaster cast collection was located in the School's Mackintosh Building at the time of a fire in the building on 23rd May 2014. As a result the majority of the collection suffered damage, of varying degrees, and all casts were subsequently surveyed by a conservator. Six casts were lost in the fire and eleven larger casts have undergone remedial conservation in 2016-17. The majority of the remaining casts have undergone cleaning before being repositioned around GSA's campus during 2019.
*Not available / given