Family papers over Gray's first mural

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Nov 14, 2004 | by Senay Boztas

The first and arguably most controversial mural painted by acclaimed author Alasdair Gray was wallpapered over because its scenes of nuclear war and crucifixion were deemed inappropriate for a family dining room.

In a documentary to celebrate his 70th birthday, to be shown on BBC2 at 10pm this evening, the author and painter reveals that the mural he painted in a Glasgow west end townhouse while still at the city's School of Art has been covered up.

Gray has traced one major part of the design - a combination of scenes reminiscent of Tolstoy's War And Peace and his own book Lanark - and will recreate it in a prime position on an enormous mural he is creating at the Glasgow arts centre, OranMor.

His Mural On The Horror Of War, created for the Scottish Soviet Friendship Society between 1954 and 1957 for no fee, was controversial because it was painted as the cold war took hold. Its opening was boycotted by the great and the good of Scottish life, and Gray has blamed the resultant lack of publicity for his lack of early success as a muralist.

The house in Belmont Crescent where Gray painted the mural was bought last year to be converted into a townhouse, and building surveyor Peter McCormack decided that the painting was not appropriate. "It is very good, but the subject of a nuclear war isn't really suitable for a dining room," he said at the time. "I invited Gray to see the work and we agreed that he would trace it and recreate it, while the mural itself would be covered in wallpaper."

Consulting with Historic Scotland, they identified a certain kind of wallpaper and non-corrosive paint that would not destroy the mural. Even though it has disappeared, Gray is optimistic about its future. "If, in later years, the owners were willing, I would be interested in restoring it completely," he said. "But I did agree that the design might put people off their food.

"I got the commission from the then head of Glasgow School of Art, Douglas Percy Bliss, but when it was finally opened, the governors of the GSA wouldn't attend the ceremony because of being seen as friendly towards the evil Soviet empire. Perhaps there wasn't any amount of publicity because of that.

"This lack of publicity had an adverse effect on my career as a muralist - I just assumed Scotland didn't give a damn about murals."

Elspeth King, director of the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum in Stirling, which mounted an exhibition of Gray's work earlier this year, said the mural was "fundamentally important as a piece of artwork".

She added: "Alasdair was spurned because it was the McCarthyite era and the business classes of Glasgow did not want to acknowledge it, while he became known as a dangerous man and friend of the Soviets. I am delighted it will be recreated, as it is fundamental to the understanding of his work."

Kevin Cameron, director of a Bafta-nominated documentary on discoveries of Gray's murals in 2001, said: "His first mural was painted at a bad time, just after the Hungarian uprising and at the height of the cold war. But public art in Scotland has always had an odd place. Alasdair is really a fantastically diverse artist, and that is what is so engaging about him."

The discovery of other lost Gray murals has prompted more positive reactions. Sian Holding was exhilarated to discover a mural by Gray beneath the heavy wallpaper of her flat in Woodlands. The violinist with Scottish Opera realised she had an early and fairly well- preserved mural by the eccentric artist in her bedroom, and asked him to restore it for her. He had originally painted the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale as a wedding present for his friends George and Rosemary Singleton in 1961.

The scope of his Gray's work is examined in tonight's programme made by Hopscotch Films, which asks the notoriously difficult interviewee to interview himself. Gray asks himself the harshest questions, such as whether he is a "piss artist" and why he "manipulates people" with his ostensibly friendly manner. His sister also recalls their growing up and the stories he shouted to her across the hall between their bedrooms.