2014 marked the 15th anniversaries of both political devolution in Scotland and the opening of the Scottish Cartoon Art Studio.
Voters considered the question of independence for years beforehand. Many commentators noted that the Scottish constitutional debate lacked humour. We at the Studio thought for could do something about that. After all, what would policies be without political cartoons?
The Auld Acquaintance was a new exhibition that gathered together artwork by the team at the Studio and also our friends from the Scottish and UK press and cartoonists across the globe. We featured caricatures, editorial cartoons and comic strips, many never before exhibited. All contributors were asked to think about the same question that was put to Scottish voters on the 18th of September. Specifically, “Should Scotland be an independent country?”
Some artists focused on the leading personalities of the debate. Others looked at Scotland’s place within the UK, Europe and the wider world. Some cartoons were savagely satirical while others were light-hearted. An equal portion of pieces were for, against and neutral on the subject of independence. Representation was given to all sides of the debate. But every contributor took a look at the Scottish question through the prism of humour.
Five different European venues exhibited The Auld Acquaintance in 2014. A year later the Scottish Parliament showed selected pieces during their Festival of Politics.
Exhibition Venues
• 10th April-14th August, Centre International de la Caricature du Dessin de Press et d’Humour, St.Just-le-Martel
Read more about the first show here.
• 19th August-21st September, Guardian News & Media Gallery at Kings Place, London
• 22nd August-28th September, Leiper Fine Art, Glasgow with support from NUJ Scotland
Read more about the two UK shows here.
• 6th-10th October, Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs, Lleida
• 17th October-14th November, Faculté de Droit et des Sciences Économiques, Université de Limoges
Read more about the last two shows here.
• 14th-16th August, Festival of Politics 2015, Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh
Read more about this retrospective showing of selected cartoons here.
We’re grateful to all the supporters of the exhibition in its various incarnations:
We received submissions from over 100 artists across 37 nations. We’re grateful to all who have supported this project.
Contributing cartoonists include: Brian Adcock; Terry Anderson; Evelyn Arcouette; Érico Junquiera Ayres; Guy Badeaux (Bado); Gary Barker; Steve Bell; Pau Bosch i Crespo; René Bouschet; Frank Boyle; Steve Bright (Brighty); Carlos Brito; Dave Brown; Chris Cairns; Steven Camley,; Arnau Torrente Capdevila; Jaume Capdevila (Kap); Danny Cardle; Jesús Carreño; Elfreda Crechan & Rab McPhee; Radu Cletiu (Clear); Christian Daigle (Fleg); Andy Davey; Vincent Deighan (Frank Quitely); Christian Fedele; Jordi Fenosa (Tatay); Brian Flynn; Norberto Elder García (Jericles); Aidarbek Gazizov; Miquel Fernandez Gras; Derek Gray; Iain Green; Scott Griffin; Willem Henkes; Uschi Heusel; Bill Houston; Mykola Kapusta,; István Kelemen; David Kerr; Jospeh Laquerre; George Licurici; Nikola Listes; Ranald MacColl; Graeme MacKa; Lewis MacKenzie; José Manuel (Napi); Ferran Martin; Malc McGookin; Cinders McLeod; Lorna Miller; Valeriy Mohylnyy; Greg Moodie (Tony Boaks); Terry Mosher (Aislin); Xavier Carrasco Muria (Bié); Urmas Nemvalts; Recep Özcan; Sylvain Pongi (Syli); Enrigue Pérez Penedo; Øyvind Sagåsen; Miguel Villalba Sánchez (Elchicotriste); Igor Smirnov; Jirí Srna; Chris Sommerville; Tommy Sommervile (Somme); Pawel Stanczyk; Bertrand Thieret (l’Amiral); Ross Thomson; Ermengol Tolsa; Carlos Villafranca (Tres); Chris Watson; Hui Xiaoyong
Logo design by Danny Cardle
All artwork © the respective artists.
