Moray House School of Education and Sport

The Newington painting collection

The East Suffolk Road Hostels were renowned for their collection of paintings by Scottish Artists.

This was in part established as a memorial to Elizabeth Looker, Principal Warden for over 25 years until 1955. Former and present students raised a fund that was the start of the collection.

A small committee, including M Ferguson, Elizabeth Carrick and former students, visited artists’ studios and selected the paintings. Elizabeth Carrick had contacts with local artists, being the daughter of a sculptor and having an artist as a sister. The committee continued to receive donations and legacies.

In 1955 the Edinburgh College of Art appointed the artist Anne Redpath RSA as its representative on the Board of Management: she had previously been a student in Buchanan hostel from 1916 to 1918.

A portrait of Elizabeth Looker, painted by William Gillies, hangs in the Newington Collection in Old Moray House.

Other artists represented include Anne Redpath, John Houston, Charles McCall, Mardi Barrie, Denis Peploe, and Anne Carrick.