Output details

The visual dimension of Carmina Gadelica

This is the first in-depth study of the visual aspect of Alexander Carmichael’s Carmina Gadelica, a book acknowledged as one of the most important Scottish Gaelic publications of the last 150 years. It is an outcome of the AHRC-funded project ‘Window to the West: Towards a Redefinition of the Visual within Gaelic Scotland’ (PI Macdonald, £543K, 2005-2011). It draws attention to the neglected significance of the visual dimension of the first edition of Carmina Gadelica (1900), which, over and above its literary importance is an outstanding example of the book design of both the Scottish Celtic Revival and the British Art and Crafts Movement. The chapter originates in the conference The Life and Legacy of Alexander Carmichael, organized in 2006 by the AHRC-funded Carmichael-Watson Project (University of Edinburgh). The Gaelic scholar Ronald Black described the paper on which this output is based as follows: ‘the biggest revelation of the conference was a paper ... on the visual dimension’ (West Highland Free Press, 4/8/2006, p 12). The book in which the chapter is published was sponsored by Bòrd na Gàidhlig the Scottish Government Agency charged with carrying out the provisions of the Gaelic Language Act of 2005. This research contributes to carrying out that government policy. The research was taken further in ‘The Visual Preconditions of Celtic Revival Art in Scotland’ a paper in the Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History, Vol. 13, ‘Highlands’ issue, 2008-2009; 16-21. ISSN 1362-248. Context was further developed through the co-convening by Macdonald of the session ‘Rethinking Celtic Revivals’ at the Association of Art Historians Annual Conference 2010. This output enabled links to be forged between three AHRC-funded projects, Window to the West (University of Dundee), Carmichael-Watson (University of Edinburgh), and Islands Cultural Archives Network (University of the West of Scotland).