About

Hope Montagu Douglas Scott (1897-1989)

Hope Scott, born in Balerno on the edge of Edinburgh, was the spirited, eldest, and only daughter of Henry Johnston Younger of the brewing dynasty. She outlived her three brothers, two of whom were killed on active service in the Second World War. Hope, who married, but never had children, found a great deal of solace and inspiration in painting and music. Somewhat a pragmatist and not overly religious, she told her friend Douglas Hall (founding Keeper of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) that music allowed one a glimpse of ultimate realities.

In 1961 she enabled the National Galleries of Scotland to acquire their first painting by French symbolist artist Pierre Bonnard. Over time she built up her own small collection of paintings by leading artists of the day (including an early Pablo Picasso, Maurice Utrillo, Max Ernst, and Joan Eardley) which she later bequeathed to The University of Edinburgh’s Talbot Rice Gallery.

In the early 1970s she met the painter William Johnstone and became a loyal patron as well as devoted friend. Her support was essential to the late flowering of this important artist, whose signature work, “A Point in Time” (1929 -1935) presages World War II, and which she donated to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Johnstone in turn encouraged her to paint and to look at art and nature in a new way. It was a meaningful friendship where her joie de vivre and constant encouragement had a profound effect on him.

The Hope Scott Trust was set up with a generous legacy from Hope to help promote music and the visual arts in Scotland, with a particular focus on early career musicians and artists. The Trust allocates a proportion of its resources to help musicians with commissions or grants for musical events and it also helps artists whose practice may include painting, sculpture, printmaking, performance, and moving image. Preference is given to applicants who are born in Scotland or who live permanently in Scotland.