Sir Basil Spence
Event ID 567334
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Sir Basil Spence
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/567334
Building Notes
In March 1947 Sir Steven Bisland, Chairman of the Scottish Committee of the Council of Industrial Design, announced that the exhibition 'Enterprise Scotland 1947' would be held in August at the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. Basil Spence and James Gardener were commissioned as Chief Architect and Chief Designer respectively, just months after they had completed the 'Britain Can Make It' exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. The exhibition aimed to promote Scottish industrial design at home and abroad and all exhibits were chosen for their quality and design.
Archive Details and Summary
The Sir Basil Spence Archive material shows that the Exhibition had four sections - Scotland Yesterday, The Country, Scotland Today, and Scotland Tomorrow. The Scotland Yesterday section included an enormous aluminium sculpture of St Andrew; the Country promoted sports, travel goods, tartans, souvenirs and tourist information. The principal section was Scotland Today where Scottish industry and products were promoted; the exhibits included people at work and at home, domestic interiors, and stories of shipbuilding, printing, scientific instruments and tools. There was also a hall dedicated to textiles that was dominated by the figure of Jenny Weave. The final section, Scotland Tomorrow, was sponsored by the Department of Health for Scotland, and highlighted plans for the future. In this section New Town planning, housing schemes and industrial estates were promoted.
The Archive presscuttings show that the exhibition coincided with the first Edinburgh International Festival. In addition to the main exhibition, 12 shops along Princes Street staged supplementary displays whilst the remainder of the shops had co-ordinated window displays. Exhibition banners were hung on all of the lamposts along the street. A film was also made of the exhibition and shown in cinemas throughout Scotland.
The Sir Basil Spence Archive contains a presentation perspective of the Commodities Hall, a press cutting album and 22 contemporary photographs. The photographs include images of John Hutton's engraved glass panels representing the ghosts of famous Scots. The press cuttings date from the announcement of the exhibition to its opening, and illustrate the strong sense of optimism of the day and the drive to export Scottish goods around the world.
The Spence Glover & Ferguson Collection, also held at RCAHMS, contains two contemporary photographs.
This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.
