| Admin_History | Gabrielle Keiller was born in North Berwick in 1908. Her mother was Daisy Hoare and her father, an American, was James (Jack) Ritchie. The first half of her life was devoted to golf. She won the Ladies Open Championships in 1948 and was shortlisted for the Curtis Cup. She inherited a share of a million acre cattle ranch in Texas and it was the sale of this in 1947 that provided the funds for her art collection. In 1951 she married her third husband, Alexander Keiller, sole heir of the Dundee marmalade family. He was an archaeologist of some note and excavated the stone circle at Avebury which he had bought together with Avebury Manor in 1934. After his death in 1954, Mrs. Keiller gave up golf. Her interest in modern art began in 1960 when she visited Venice Biennale and met Peggy Guggenheim. She saw the work of Eduardo Paolozzi in the British Pavilion there and became his friend and patron. Guided in part by Paolozzi, Dada and Surrealism became the main focus for her collecting, but she also took an interest in the younger British artists. From 1975 - 1985 she served on the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's advisory committee. In 1988 the Gallery held an exhibition of her collection 'The Magic Mirror'. She died in December 1995 and bequeathed her collection which includes rare archival items and a magnificent library of Dada and Surrealist books to the Gallery. |