One of the largest and most commented upon objects in the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum is an oil painting entitled The Dunfermline Demonstrations. Painted by the artists Andrew Blair of Dunfermline and William Geddes of Blairgowrie between 1881 and 1882, this six- by-four-foot composition hangs in the museum hall and is one of the last objects visitors see.
Image: Dunfermline Demonstrations by Andrew Blair and William Geddes, 1881-1882. ACBM collection
The painting is one of the few works of art directly commissioned by Andrew Carnegie rather than presented or gifted to him for his many benefactions worldwide. He commissioned the painting to remind him of the demonstrations given in his honour when the memorial stone of the first Carnegie Free Library was laid on 27 July 1881.
The painting depicts the celebration on High Street in Dunfermline, looking eastward from the Dunfermline City Chambers as the procession of bands and working men accompanying Carnegie's carriage from the outskirts of the town enter the main thoroughfare. The streets are lined with people and the buildings are decorated with flags and banners to welcome their hero and his mother, Margaret, on this auspicious day.
Image: Andrew Carnegie raising his hat. His mother receiving a bouquet of flowers (detail)
Carnegie can be seen at the front of the first carriage raising his hat to the assembled crowds, and Margaret Carnegie has stepped out of the carriage and is talking to a man and woman prior to receiving a bouquet of flowers. In his book An American Four-in-Hand in Britain describing the coaching trip, Carnegie tells us his mother was overcome with emotion that day and decided to travel inside the carriage, and this explains why Andrew and his mother are not seated next to each other in the painting. Passengers in the second carriage are family relatives including Carnegie's uncle George Lauder. His Uncle Lauder's shop on High Street can be identified by the American flag flying from the first-floor window.
Another unusual circumstance behind this painting is that two artists painted it. The commission was given to Andrew Blair, who was a fine landscape and watercolour painter, but he felt unable to paint adequately so many portraits, and so he enlisted the help of William Geddes. This collaboration resulted in Blair painting the background details of sky, buildings and streets, while the procession and people were painted by Geddes.
25 years ago, from a relative of William Geddes, we learned the identities of many of the people in the foreground, since Geddes used his own wife and some of his children as models. The two artists themselves can be seen standing arm in arm next to the police sergeant, with Blair on the left. Geddes' wife appears in the painting three times: on the left, holding a baby in her arms; on the right, standing behind a group of three children; and in the center, dressed in a black coat and dark blue dress. Many of the children in the foreground are William Geddes' sons and daughters and we now know the names of five of them: the group of three children in the right center are Janet, Robert and Ewan. The barefoot boy is David and the girl in the red shawl is Mary.
Image: Two men (right) objecting to gift of a free library (detail).
Within the painting can also be seen a second demonstration, but this one is not joyous. Two well-dressed gentlemen in the foreground on the right have deliberately turned their backs on the proceedings to show their displeasure. These gentlemen are believed to be baillies or town councilmen who objected to Andrew Carnegie's gift of a free library, since the town council would have to increase local taxes to pay for its upkeep.
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The blog was written by Derrick Barclay, former curator of the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum.
