LONDON.- Works by some of Scotland’s leading contemporary artists will go on sale in The Scottish Summer Exhibition to be held at The Fleming Collection from 10 June to 3 September 2011. Following on from last year’s successful inaugural selling exhibition, a select group of artists has submitted works many of which have been specially created for the show. A percentage of all sales will go towards supporting The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, the charity that runs The Fleming Collection, now regarded as an embassy for Scottish art in London.

“Supporting Scottish contemporary art is a very important part of what we do,”says Selina Skipwith, Keeper of Art at The Fleming Collection. “Not only do we buy works for our own holdings but we also aim to promote the wealth of talent that exists in Scotland.”The title of the show echoes that of the Summer Exhibition held at the nearby Royal Academy, although artists submit work to the latter while The Fleming Collection’s show is by invitation only. Prices will range from a few hundred pounds upwards.

The artists exhibiting will include Professor Bill Scott, President of the Royal Scottish Academy, whose sculptures in metal and wood have been exhibited around the world; Adam Kennedy, a young Glasgow-based artist who won this year’s Aspect Prize for Scottish contemporary art; Kate Whiteford, whose work is concerned with revealing hidden narratives in landscapes and urban settings; and Derrick Guild, who has won many awards for his paintings and objects which reference European still lifes from the 15th to the 19th centuries.

Five works will be contributed by Graham Fagan, including the stunningly beautiful West Coast Looking West (Atlantic), a Giclée digital print produced in an edition of three plus two artist’s proofs. Other leading Scottish contemporary artists taking part will include Alexander Allan, Helen Flockhart, Henry Kondracki, Delia Baillie, Louise Higgins, and Jo Milne.

The Scottish Summer Exhibition will also include limited edition fine art original prints by contemporary artists commissioned and published by Edinburgh Printmakers, The latter was the first studio of its kind in the UK, a creative space where artists have access to printmaking facilities enabling them to experiment and produce work independently.

The Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation was set up in April 2000 following the announcement of a takeover of Flemings, the London merchant bank, by the Chase Manhattan Corporation of New York. The corporate collection of oil paintings, watercolours and drawings assembled by Flemings since 1968, initially to decorate office walls, was transferred to this new charitable foundation. It opened to the public in a gallery at 13 Berkeley Street, London W1 in January 2002, which it still occupies.

Since then The Fleming Collection, which is the only museum in the United Kingdom entirely devoted to Scottish art, has hosted numerous highly successful exhibitions of works from its own collection and from major institutions including The National Gallery of Scotland, The Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Hunterian Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow. It has produced exhibition catalogues and other important publications, including the twice-yearly magazine Scottish Art News, and collaborated with Scottish artists, composers, musicians and arts events.

The Fleming Collection has succeeded in its principal aim of raising the profile of Scottish art, which is poorly represented in museums and galleries outside Scotland. It now mainly buys contemporary works, although it continues to fill gaps elsewhere in its collection, and because of this is closely in touch with current developments in Scottish art.