Beryl
Sally Beamish (2007) and Beryl (2003) are both examples of Shelagh Atkinson’s printmaking technique. The artist uses portraits to tackle different narratives, with identity featuring as a prominent theme in her work.
Sally Beamish resonates with the artist’s portraits of key Scottish figures. Modernist composer Sally Beamish (b.1956) moved from London to Scotland in 1990 to develop her career as a composer. Atkinson describes that her personal connection to the composer enabled a non-academic setting for the photograph, identifiable through the candid smile captured by the camera. One of the resultant screenprints, Making Music, was then purchased by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, testament to the standing of both Atkinson and Beamish in Scottish culture.
Beryl depicts the award-winning author Dame Beryl Bainbridge (1932/4–2010). This portrait resonates with Atkinson’s print series of prominent cultural figures, including actors, artists, and composers (also represented by the portrait of Sally Beamish in The Women’s Art Collection). Bainbridge began her career as an actress, but was best known for her novels that captured lower-middle-class English life. The original photograph was taken by Catrin Anderson and then screenprinted by Atkinson to create a different narrative possibility.
