‘It should go home’: Canadian man wants to gift painting to Glasgow establishment
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The piece by Calvert is the prize of the collection and hangs in his kitchen, but after doing some research into both the artist and the art scene he’s keen that it be returned to Scotland.
Mr Boynton is offering the painting for free to a gallery, a restaurant, a government building or really anywhere else – providing they ensure the painting is on display – and is even hoping to hand it over in person.
He told The Herald: “I’m 41 now and as I get a little older I realise that art and history is important to everyone’s culture and heritage and, as much as it’s been enjoyed in Canada, I kind of feel like it should be sent home to Glasgow and appreciated and seen by the people there because it’s where he was from.
“My brother told me about the Elgin Marbles, there’s a museum in Greece that has a gallery or a room in it that’s completely empty because the British government have the marbles and won’t give them back.
“The empty room is waiting for the government to do the right thing and return this art to its homeland, and I remember him telling me the story and looking at that painting going, ‘this painter was from Scotland, he was from Glasgow, and sometimes art needs to be returned for cultural and historical purposes’.
“The other thing is I have a daughter, Cali, and I’m trying to teach the next generation about doing the right thing and that money isn’t everything.
“The only thing I’m adamant about is that I don’t want it sitting in an archive somewhere, I want it displayed, I want people to enjoy it.
“There’s so much art and history in the world that’s just buried in back rooms, I don’t think that’s the purpose of art. So I’d like somebody to display it for everybody to see.”
As to how the painting found its way to Canada in the first place, Mr Boynton’s home town of Fergus may hold a clue.
It hosts the biggest Highland Games outside of Scotland, and many early settlers were Scottish.
Read More: The Czech who created Eastern Europe’s first Highland games
Mr Boynton says: “I think it could have been purchased in Paris at one of his exhibitions.
“At one point it made its way from Scotland or Paris to here, so it must have been someone who lived in one of those places.
“Fergus is a very Scottish town, one time I was told it was the largest Highland Games outside of Scotland in the world and our town is only 10,000 people.
“It’s a massive weekend here, it’s the one weekend where I try to leave town because it’s absolute insanity the amount of people who come here.
“This year they had the heavy games for the first time where they had the caber tossing and stuff like that.
“I think someone in the area probably bought it, or someone emigrated from Scotland to here with it, whether it was a family treasure or family heirloom.
“I tried to reach out to the lady’s family to find out how long she’d been here and I didn’t get a response, so I would assume it either came over here as a family heirloom or it was just something somebody liked when they were over there.”
While Mr Boynton is keen to give the painting away for free, he’s hoping to hand it over in person as an excuse to visit Scotland for the first time.
He says: “Our family’s roots are predominantly Irish and English but I believe we have some Scottish blood in our family.
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“A lot of Canadians emigrated from England, Ireland and Scotland – especially in this town – I’ve never been to Scotland but I will gladly get on a plane in the New Year and bring it over and donate it.
“I’ve talked to my brothers about it a little bit, I’m going fishing with my brother this weekend in northern British Columbia, and I said if I could find the right home for it would my brothers go with me to do it?
“One brother said absolutely, so it would be a little bit of a family affair for me and my brothers as well to get on a plane and come and experience Glasgow and hand it over to the right business, or distillery, government – even if there was a restaurant that wanted it.
“Just give us an excuse to come to Scotland!”
If you would like to display the painting in your establishment, send an email to gaby.mckay@newsquest.co.uk stating the nature of your establishment and why you’d like to have the painting – all correspondence will be passed on to Mr Boynton.
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