Lavery on Location

Design of An Irish Impressionist | Lavery on Location, the summer blockbuster exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy for National Galleries Scotland. Part travelogue, part social history, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey from the sun, sea and sand of France to the heat of Tangiers, and back to wartime Britain via the magic of the Scottish Highlands. Each of the gallery spaces is themed to reflect Lavery’s travels, demonstrating the effect this had on his work as an artist who dedicated his life to observing and recording the changing world around him.

Client

National Galleries Scotland

Services

Exhibition Space Planning
Exhibition Design
Graphic Design
Wayfinding

“Leave a grey Edinburgh behind to go on a splendid journey at the Royal Scottish Academy with the artist Sir John Lavery. ★★★★★”

The Times

Colour journey

We introduced a strong jewel-like colour palette to create a rich sensory backdrop for the artworks, reflecting the themes of the exhibition and capturing the mood and sense of place and time across the decades. Taking a two-tone approach, we enlivened the gallery spaces through the use of a darker, bolder colour to signal introductory walls, with a lighter complementary tone used for secondary walls. We matched paint and pantone print colours and created a seamless appearance through text applied direct to painted surfaces as cut vinyl lettering. Lighting worked in tandem with the displays to highlight artworks and bring a rich, velvety texture to the gallery.

“An exhibition full of colour and life.”

iNews

Travel

John Lavery (1856-1941) lived through period of incredible change; born in the era of the horse and cart, he lived through a world which came to be dominated by the aeroplane, steamship and motorcar. These advances in modes of transport opened the world to Lavery as he sought out new and inspiring scenes and vistas.

Taking inspiration from early 20th century ocean liners, we designed a freestanding structure to act as a draw for the exhibition and to create a photo opportunity for visitors to share on social media. Large scale wallpapers and printed gauze backdrops helped to set the scene for the glamour and excitement of inter-continental travel at a time when the world was rapidly expanding.