An exhibition dedicated to the works of a distinguished Thurso artist known locally as ‘Barrogill Keith’ is scheduled to take place at the North Coast Visitor Centre next month.
David Barrogill Keith was born in Thurso in 1891 and, in 1908, left to study law at Edinburgh University. He also studied painting at the Académie Delacluse, an atelier-style art school in Paris, and drawing at Edinburgh College of Art during that period.
Whilst at Edinburgh, DB Keith sketched his fellow students and tutors there. These are contained in a sketchbook held at Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archive in Wick.
During WWI he made sketches of the men he served with and after the war returned to Thurso to practice law. His love of drawing and painting endured and he was a seminal influence within the Society of Caithness Artists. He exhibited at the RSA (Royal Scottish Academy) from 1937 to 1966 and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour.
The exhibition by High Life Highland and Nucleus called ‘The Life and Art of David Barrogill Keith’ is scheduled to take place at Thurso’s North Coast Visitor Centre and will run from June 6 until June 27.
The exhibition brings together artwork from the collection of Robert Maitland, local knowledge and research by Alan McIvor and the Caithness Archive Team – as well as examples from the Keith Family archives held at Nucleus.