Rose Strang review — Symphony of subtle essences and lingering impressions

Not that long ago, in the mid-80s, in response to a question from a brave, young, female North American student, my Scottish literature lecturer opined that the reason there were no women writers on the syllabus was that there were “no Scottish women writers of substance”.

How shocking that such nonsense was then so deeply embedded in academe. The hapless lecturer had clearly not heard of Nan Shepherd, born in 1893, a native of Deeside and contemporary of literary luminaries such as Neil M Gunn, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Marion Angus, Helen B Cruickshank and Agnes Mure Mackenzie.

Shepherd — whose literary ability was at least equal to that of her male peers — is undergoing a reappraisal and revival, supported by such talents as the writer Robert Macfarlane and the artist Rose Strang. Strang’s paintings, which form the basis of this show, were commissioned to illustrate a new edition of Shepherd’s classic of nature writing, The Living Mountain, first published in 1922.

Following in Shepherd’s footsteps, Strang travelled to the Cairngorms, to places such as Càrn Bàn Mòr. Her journey provided inspiration for a series of nine oil paintings, inspired by the mountains’ genus loci and the fluid poeticism of Shepherd’s prose. The result is a stunning series of images — a symphony of subtle essences, distilled experiences, fleeting memory fragments and deep, heartfelt lingering impressions.

Strang’s painting makes us ask deep questions about what painting is, how it functions and gives us answers to its ultimate purpose. Like Shepherd’s words, and indeed the Cairngorms themselves, these paintings work slowly, generatively taking hold of our senses and our imagination, striking deeply at our core or, if you like, our souls.

‘One cannot know the rivers till one has seen them in their sources but this journey . . . is not to be undertaken lightly. One walks among elementals and elementals are not governable . . .’ wrote Shepherd in the first chapter.

Strang’s “among elementals” deals with the idea of seeking the source of things, for like Gunn, Shepherd’s thinking was infused with the power of symbolism, so important in Eastern and Celtic culture. Here, as in the other paintings, there is a sense of wonder and the fragility of the human presence among the mountains’ deep geological time. A wonderful film by Strang, with atmospheric music by Atzi Muramatsu, provides yet another accompaniment to Strang’s imagery and Shepherd’s words. See this small but perfectly formed show if you can.

     The exhibition runs at the Scottish Poetry Library until March 31, then will be at the Heriot Gallery, Edinburgh, from April 17-23