Tag Archives: Eduardo Paolozzi

Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh Poetry Tours

A second Edinburgh Alphabet (I-Q)

1 Comment

Back in 2017 I posted an A-Z of Edinburgh poetry. This summer I thought I’d do another, so in the run-up to this year’s Fringe poetry walks I’ve started posting on instagram and Facebook. Thus far I’ve done A-Q; you can find I-Q outlined below, and A-H in an earlier post here.

oplus_32

I is for Iain Crichton Smith
J is for Jacob’s Ladder
K is for Kirk, Thomas
L is for Lepel, Benhard von
M is for Maps
N is for Newhaven
O is for Outlander, Otway & Orphan
P is for Paolozzi
Q is for Quincey, Thomas De

Iain Crichton Smith, from Lewis, and living much of his life in Argyll, wrote about Edinburgh, not always flatteringly. The image above shows an inscription in Makars Court: ‘Let our three-voiced country / Sing in a new world’ – from a poem read at the opening of the Scottish parliament in 1999.
Jacob’s Ladder runs up steeply from the gloom of an overhead railway bridge on Calton Road to the open vistas of Regent Road.
Thomas Kirk was a Yorkshireman who kept a journal of a tour of Scotland made 1677. On May 29th he describes the pretty wild celebrations on the anniversary of Charles II’s restoration – a volatile mix of wine and gunpowder.

Bernhard von Lepel travelled to Scotland with Theodor Fontane in 1858. Fontane’s travel book Jenseits des Tweeds (Beyond the Tweed) appeared in 1860. A English edition features drawings made by von Lepel on their travels.
This map dates from 1836, when the grid of the New Town has extended the city to the north.
Newhaven is a former fishing village north of the city centre, between Leith and Granton.

Otway‘s play The Orphan is quoted in a court of Bakehouse Close, one of the locations for the tv series Outlander.
The artist Eduardo Paolozzi was born in Leith to Italian parents. Technology, science and pop culture became central to his work, and as his reputation spread he received an increasing number of public commissions, including several in Edinburgh. The hand is from Egeria, University of Edinburgh, Kings Building.
Thomas De Quincey, best know for Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, lived for many years in Edinburgh. For some time he lived in New Town grand surroundings, but unpaid debts meant he took advantage of the debtors’ sanctuary at Holyrood.

Artists, Edinburgh Poetry Tours, Poets

Paolozzi at Large in Edinburgh

Leave a comment

 

Egeria (detail)

To coincide with the launch of a new book about the artist in his home city, I’m leading two walks featuring poems by Christine De Luca about works by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924–2005). Paolozzi was born in Leith, and while as an adult he lived away from Edinburgh, he was commissioned to make a number of works here during the last twenty years of his life. He also bequested work to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, which houses a reconstruction of his London studio.

The walks are South and East (Friday 2 November, 14.00–16.30) and West and North (Saturday 3 November, 10.00–12.30).

‘South and East’ takes in three groups of sculptures: ‘Egeria and Parthenope’ at King’s Buildings, ‘Early Peoples’ at the Museum of Scotland, and ‘The Manuscript of Monte Cassino’, originally sited at Picardy Place and now temporarily re-located at London Road.

‘West and North’ takes in ‘Wealth of Nations’ at the Gyle Business Park, stained glass windows in St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, and works at the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art.

Tickets (£6 / £4) and details of the routes are available via Eventbrite.
‘South and East’ (Friday 2 November, 14.00–16.30)
‘West and North’ (Saturday 3 November, 10.00–12.30).

Paolozzi at Large in Edinburgh (Luath, 2018), edited by Christine De Luca and Carlo Pirozzi, is the first book to look at the artist in his home city. It includes poems written by De Luca, the former Edinburgh Makar, in response to some of Paolozzi’s iconic works which can be seen around Edinburgh, as well as work by many involved in the art world: researchers, archivists and practising (RSA) artists. The book is part of the Eduardo Paolozzi Project created and developed by Carlo Pirozzi (University of Edinburgh). Paolozzi at Large in Edinburgh is to be launched at Blackwell’s Bookshop, South Bridge, Edinburgh on 31 October.

These walks have been developed with the help of funding from this Eduardo Paolozzi Project with the support of Edinburgh World Heritage.

Images, from top: Egeria (detail), Wealth of Nations (detail); MS of Monte Cassino; Paolozzi’s studio (details); Wealth of Nations, Master of the Universe, Egeria.