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Intro |
Points Of View |
North |
South |
Highlands |
Midlands |
East |
West |
Conclusion
Highlands and Glens
A Hell Created by Man |
In Focus: William McTaggart
A Hell Created by Man
As in the South, the Hell that has been pinpointed in
this area is not located where you might expect it, in the slums
of great cities. In fact there are no enormous cities in the sparsely
populated Highlands. For a hundred years, starting in the late eighteenth
century, Hell came into Highlanders' lives through the actions of
other men. They were forced to abandon the country that had provided
them with their identity and to live abroad in exile.
Tens of thousands of tenants were evicted from their
homes by landowners who wanted to clear their land to make way for
profitable large scale sheep farming. As a result, the Scottish
countryside was turned into a beautiful desert. In Assynt, in the
North West Highlands, the population fell from over 2000 in 1850
to just 800 in 1950.
Those who were thrown out of their homes were forced
to settle on barren land, often by the sea. Emigration was one of
their only options to avoid starvation. As a result, paintings of
the sea around Scotland often carry a wistful undertone - it could
be heaven if there were people living and working there to enjoy
the scenery. This might be the mood of McTaggart's Summer Sundown
1880, subtitled Tir-nan-Og, which is the name of a legendary
Celtic paradise. However, the artist may equally well be evoking
a situation in which man is close to nature, which was his idea
of heaven.
As a result of the Highland Clearances many Americans
and Canadians can trace their ancestry back to Scotland. In their
minds they often carry images of the country in which their families
once lived. Such images may not bear much resemblance to the actual
appearance of the place their relatives left behind many years before.
Although heaven has not yet come to the Highlands, the
grim saga of the area's depopulation may now be developing a happier
ending. Crofters have formed unions and have taken over the running
of whole landed estates, including that of Assynt.
- Do you know a beautiful empty place that seems haunted by the ghosts of former inhabitants?
- Does your family originate in another country? Do you carry an image of it in your mind? Have you visited that country and did it bear any resemblance to the way you had imagined it?
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In Focus:
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View in Tate Collection