From Paisley to Paris: The Sculpture of Mary Buchanan

This talk will explore the work of Mary Buchanan (1876–1958), a Scottish sculptor and watercolourist. Buchanan initially studied modelling at the Paisley Technical School and the Glasgow School of Art before joining the growing cohort of British women artists who travelled to Paris in the early 1900s to learn from celebrated French sculptors like Auguste Rodin and Antoine Bourdelle.

Buchanan exhibited regularly in Britain and abroad, and the small but compelling group of works that are known today illustrate her sophisticated and innovative approach to the female figure in sculpture. While many of her peers, such as Gwen John and Ottilie McLaren, have received increased scholarly attention in recent years, details about Buchanan’s artistic practice have remained comparatively obscure. In taking a closer look at Buchanan’s surviving oeuvre, I hope to bring to light the recognition and influence she earned as a professional artist in the early twentieth century.

Laura Chase is Assistant Curator of Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where her research focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century sculpture. She studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art (MA, 2018) and previously worked at Tate Britain and The Royal College of Music Museum. She has curated exhibitions at The Courtauld Gallery, the Sørlandets Kunstmuseum in Norway, and the Foundling Museum.