Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun: Artists, Lovers, Outsiders

Moving exhibition at Charleston in Lewes examining the life and work of Robert Macbryde and Robert Colquhoun.

The Two Roberts met at the Glasgow School of Art in 1933 and became lovers living together until the death of Colquhoun in 1962. In the mid 20th century they were at the centre of the art world but they have largely been forgotten now. The writer and broadcaster, Damian Barr, has recently written a novel about their life and had also curated this show.

The show took us from those early years in Glasgow, through their travels in Europe then the Second World War when Colquhoun served as a ambulance driver and  they then lived in Blitzed London. It went through the artistic friends they made in Post-War London with examples of their work, including John Minton who formed a menage a trois with them in the early 1940s.

My favourite works were MacBryde's bold, flat still-lives often based on the food he bought when they were living in Lewes. I also liked a section on their designs for a Scottish ballet for Leonide Massine in 1951.

Closed 12 April 2026


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