Duncan Black
551 459
Description Duncan Black
Collection Duncan Black
Catalogue Number 551 459
Category All Other
Scope and Content Besides the architect's own drawings and sketches, the Duncan Black Collection also contains many works by his sister, Margaret Beveridge, and two older relatives, Helen and Finlay Black, besides a miscellany of other items of artistic or architectural interest. Of one hundred and thirty-six items, eighteen dating from 1958 to 1960 relate to a bungalow for Mrs Catherine T. Walker of Smeaton Park, Inveresk; barring the garage for J.K. Burleigh (July 1958) and the plaque designs for the Saltire Society (1985), these are the only drawings in the Collection which it seems he intended to be executed. He was recruited to the civil service early on in his career and by the time he retired in 1982 was Deputy Chief architect for Scotland, responsible for checking the worthiness of designs of other architects who were commissioned by government authorities. It is possible that he himself only designed buildings for friends - J.K. Burleigh was a neighbour whilst Black was still residing at Pentland Crescent up to about 1960. The remainder are largely devoted to what are apparently student projects, the subjects of which range from a Hall of Justice and a Mortuary Chapel through a series of work-places and restaurants to room furnishings and a variety of art-work including fine lettering, four nudes, an esquisse for a chandelier, an abstract, a flower arrangement, a landscape with a bridge and a number of architectural perspectives. Also by him is a black and white photograph of the students' common room in the Edinburgh College of Art as it was in 1949 when he was nearing the completion of his course there. He is also believed responsible for three paintings of old buildings , one of a Scottish sea-side village dating from his student years, the other two probably both of streets in Stamford carried out on a visit there during September 1953. Furthermore, he is deemed the more likely author of the awesome classical interior which might perhaps have been a result of his visit to Italy following his success in winning the Rome Scholarship in 1954, and thus of the small classical townscape also. The other possible artist is Helen Black. Helen Black's portfolio includes a series of works relating to classical architecture executed whilst she was at the Edinburgh College of Art, one of which demonstrates the application of the Doric order to the School itself. She also produced a church plan, two discus throwers, numerous delicate flower drawings and some fine decorative designs, one for a woollen shawl. Also attributed to her are examples of intricate lettering, a design for a shop logo, and a drawing of a seated model. Finlay Black's drawings include designs for a cottage, a steading, and a golf club house, together with the "Examples from the Four Periods of Gothic Architecture", "Designs for [an] Entrance Doorway" and a number of sketches. Although two cottage designs are ascribed to A.S. Allan, there seems little doubt that these too are by Finlay Black, for they appear to be in the same hand as those works that can be far more certainly attributed to him. The Collection also contains Margaret Beveridge's designs for "A Forth-Side House", her entry for a "Competition for Furniture Design" and a sheet of sectional elevations of the Edinburgh College of Art which she too attended: it would seem all her pieces date from her time there. Finally, the Collection also incorporates a handful of other items not seemingly executed by any of the family: there are two pictures from calendars, one being "The Boat Basin, Lincoln" by Wilfred J. Haughton, the other James Mcintosh Patrick's ''Summer, Abernyte, Perthshire''; a print from "The Queen" of a "Chalk Cliff on the Island of Rugen"; a picture of houses at Cullen by "Y.H.R."; and a picture of trees, possibly by Duncan Black or ''Y.H.R.'', but whose true author cannot really be ascertained with any degree of certainty. There are two copies of "Two Hundred Summers in a City", the souvenir programme of an exhibition celebrating the bi-centenary of the design of Edinburgh's First New Town which was held in 1967; a sheet cataloguing various drainage fittings; and a sheet outlining the history of the House of Savoy from the time of Humbert White Hands onwards.
Archive History On temporary deposit 1992.
Finding Aids A handlist of the collection is available.
Accruals No further accruals are expected.
Accession Number 1992/47
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