Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
Photography: Ross McDowell
Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art occupies a former merchant's mansion. Behind its grand classical frontage lies a history closely connected to Atlantic trade and the wealth created through slavery.
The building began in the late eighteenth century as the mansion of William Cunninghame, a Glasgow merchant whose fortune was connected with tobacco and sugar. Those commercial networks depended upon enslaved labour, an essential part of Glasgow's Atlantic trading prosperity. The house changed purpose as Glasgow developed, becoming associated with commercial and civic institutions before opening as the Gallery of Modern Art in 1996. The gallery now serves the public in a building originally made possible by private wealth. Its present cultural role and historical origins belong to the same Glasgow story.
The classical columns and imposing façade give the building a public character quite different from its beginning as a private residence. Royal Exchange Square provides an important setting, reflecting the ambitions of Glasgow's commercial centre. Successive adaptations are part of the building's history even where its earlier domestic purpose is not immediately obvious.
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