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www.privateairny.com Private Air | Fall 2020 33 THE COLLECTION he only consulted the chairman when making unusually expensive purchases. For 18 years, Donald was, as Bill Smith his successor put it: 'A committee of one, using his special blend of flair and wit to build up a fine collection of Scottish art.' Luckily, until around 1980, Scottish art was generally undervalued and remarkably good purchases could be made. e Fine Art Society in Bond Street was virtually the only London dealer to show any interest and in 1970 held exhibitions of the Glasgow School and the Scottish Colourists. However, it was in the 1980s that prices began to soar. In the late 1970s, a good work by the Colourist S J Peploe could be had for £5,000; in 1988 his Girl in White sold at Christie's in Glasgow for £506,000. From an early stage, it was not just established 18th-, 19th- and early-20th-century art that was bought, but the works of modern and living artists were also sought after and secured. is injected an element of patronage into the bank's collecting activities. Donald continued to be responsible for the collection after his retirement from Flemings in 1984, but a year later he died unexpectedly following a short illness. His achievement had just been recognized in a rare and fitting manner, by his election as an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy. Directorial responsibility for sculpture as well as paintings had fallen to Robin Fleming, a grandson of the founder, and he brought in Bill Smith, who says: 'When I joined Flemings in 1965, I had no great enthusiasm for art. However, seeing the collection gradually building up around me, I began to take an interest – an interest that soon became a passion.' So much so that Smith took early retirement from the corporate finance department to fully concentrate on the art. An immediate task was to supervise the move to a new HQ in Copthall Avenue, a building designed by Fitzroy Robinson & Partners, which came to provide one of the most striking visual experiences to visitors of any interior in the City. e architects were briefed to consider the collection's display a priority and this resulted in the spectacular use of the glass- walled atrium. It was topped by a glass roof and served by glass lifts from which the galleries of pictures could be seen. Much consideration was given to the balance of lighting, so that the art could be enjoyed without suffering damage. Each office was provided with one or two paintings, which were regularly circulated, sometimes despite the protests of temporary custodians who had fallen in love with them. At that point there were about 450 paintings in the collection. It OPPOSITE: Robert Fleming BELOW: Jean Maconochie by J D Fergusson, 1902.

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