Collections

Album Da Disegno 'Spirale'; Florence, 1956 [Joyce and Robin]

Artist: McClure, David, RSA · 1926-1998Papermaker: Fabriano · b. 1264

Album Da Disegno 'Spirale'; Florence, 1956 [Joyce and Robin]

On completion of his studies at Edinburgh College of Art in 1955, McClure was awarded the Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship. He used the award to…

On completion of his studies at Edinburgh College of Art in 1955, McClure was awarded the Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship.

He used the award to live and work in two very different island resorts; Millport on Great Cumbrae off the west coast of Scotland, and Casteldaccia on the northern coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean.

McClure, alongside his wife Joyce and the couple's baby son, Robin, broke their travels with a few months stay in Florence between May and November 1956, after leaving Millport, and before reaching Sicily .

The sketchbook is commercially manufactured probably by the firm of paper manufacturers, Fabriano.

The original quota of leaves is not given but only fifteen remain intact, five of which are completely detached from the spiral binding.

The collation is as follows;
front cover: thin brown card printed in brown ink
leaf 1 (recto) portrait format sketch in black conte of the head and shoulders of a young woman her head turned three quarters from the right [the artist's wife Joyce]
leaf 1 (verso) blank
leaf 2 (recto) landscape format very slight sketch of a bent human leg
leaf 2 (verso) blank
leaf 3 (recto) landscape format very slight sketch of the curved back, bare backside and bent leg of a woman
leaf 3 (verso) blank
leaf 4 (recto) portrait format sketch of the head and shoulders of a young woman her head turned three quarters from the left and with her eyes closed [the artist's wife Joyce]
leaf 4 (verso) blank
leaf 5 (recto) portrait format slight sketches (x4 of) of a naked child [the artist's son Robin]
leaf 5 (verso) blank
leaf 6 (recto) portrait format sketch in black conte of a naked baby boy seated on a bowl [the artist's son Robin]
leaf 6 (verso) blank
leaf 7 (recto) landscape format sketch in black conte of a young woman in long skirt with bare feet reclining and the pose repeated
leaf 7 (verso) blank
leaf 8 (recto) portrait format sketch in black conte of a half-length figure of a young boy wearing a loose jacket, his left hand raised to his chin
leaf 8 (verso) blank
leaf 9 (recto) portrait format sketch in black conte of the side view of a young woman wearing a skirt and short sleeved top holding a baby on her lap, the baby holding a spoon in its left hand
leaf 9 (verso) blank
leaf 10 (recto) portrait format sketch in black conte of the side view of a young woman wearing a skirt and short sleeved top holding a baby on her lap, the baby holding a spoon in its left hand similar to that on leaf 9(r)
leaf 10 (verso) blank
inner rear cardboard
rear cover

RSA Archives holds a small group of original correspondence relating to McClure's Florentine trip.

The sketchbook was manufactured by the long established Italian papermaking firm of Fabriano

© The Royal Scottish Academy