Reflections: The Light and Life of John Henry Lorimer

by Elizabeth Cumming (Editor), David Patterson (Foreword), Robin Lorimer (Contributor)

Reflections: The Light and Life of John Henry Lorimer is the first publication on this Scottish artist. It discusses and contextualises his paintings through a series of themes: place, family, light, femininity and home. It begins and concludes with personal essays on Kellie Castle, the Fife property leased and restored by his family from 1878 and a constant and deep inspiration. In his turret studio at Kellie, Lorimer created scenes that tenderly capture social and emotional situations: the joy of motherhood, the grief of a bride trapped by an arranged marriage, the fear of a young girl reading a letter sent from the frontline and the tenderness of a family birthday party.

This book accompanies the exhibition 'Reflections: The Light and Life of John Henry Lorimer (1856-1936)’, on display at the City Art Centre from 6 November 2021 - 20 March 2022.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Elizabeth Cumming is a graduate of Edinburgh University and a former keeper of the City Art Centre, Edinburgh. During the 1990s she taught design history at Edinburgh College of Art, while continuing to pursue freelance curatorship internationally. Her exhibitions have included Glasgow 1900: Art & Design at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam in 1992. Since 2000, when appointed an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Glasgow University, she has worked as an independent art and design historian.

In 2020 Cumming was appointed an Honorary Professor of Art at the University of Edinburgh.