Paintings go under hammer to fund Demarco Archive

PAINTINGS donated by Scottish artists and private collectors are to be auctioned to help fund a permanent home for an art archive.

The archive has been collected over 50 years by one of the leading figures on Scotland's contemporary arts scene.

Proceeds from the charity auction, which includes works by artists including Ian Hamilton Finlay, John Houston, Anne Redpath, John Byrne and Elizabeth Blackadder, will be used by Richard Demarco to run his not-for-profit Demarco Archive Trust at Craigcrook Castle in Edinburgh.

The sale of more than 100 paintings at Lyon and Turnbull auctioneers in Edinburgh, which begins today with a seven-day preview, also includes two watercolours by Mr Demarco.

The Edinburgh-born art promoter says he needs 80,000 a year to run his archive of more than 10,000 paintings and drawings by artists from 50 countries.