JDMcDsblog

Today, at Hutchesons’, we had the annual Sir Alexander Stone lecture, delivered by renowned art historian Profesor Anthony Slinn, a graduate of Liverpool College of Art and the Slade School. Taking the theme of “masterpieces of the Twentieth Century” Professor Slinn examind ten key works of art, one from each decade of the 20th Century. Or nearly. Two decades were barren, for very different reasons-the Forties, exhuasted by war, and the sterlile minimalism of the 70s. But among the icons he picked were some familiar works such as Picasso’s Demoiselles D’Avignon, harbinger of cubism and Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle, a celebration of movement. Basil Spence’s Coventry Cathedral represented the 50s, while Liechstenstein’s Wham is the essence of 1960s Pop Art, up there with the celebrated Peter Blake cover for Sergeant Pepper. Slinn managed to incorporate some of his own work into the talk, such as his homage to Vincent’s Chair and a house made of individually framed pictures.

Sir Alexander Stone, son of Russian emigres, was born in the Gorbals and, after attending Hutchesons’ he joined the family furniture business before studying law and founding his own law firm and then embarked on a career in banking. A banking crisis led to Sir Alexander losing a personal fortune, but he built it up again, donating money for charities and supporting a wide range of philanthropic endeavours. For many years he supported the work of Hutchesons’, grateful for the education he received in the 1920s, and his wife has continued this tradition through her funding of the Music suite and the new John R Clark window in the Library.