'More will turn up' - Work by Scottish artists unearthed for homecoming exhibition

For a short time, Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde were among the most celebrated figures in British art.

The toast of galleries, they were commissioned to make everything from book jackets to ballet costumes and even photographed for Vogue.

But there was nothing fanciful about painting for these working class boys from Ayrshire who met at Glasgow School of Art in 1933 and were partners in life and work for all their lives.

Art wasn't just their passion, it was their currency - exchanged for food, drinks and art supplies which allowed them to keep the cycle going.

Scottish writer Damian Barr first told their story in his novel The Two Roberts and then curated an exhibition of their work in Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex.

Now he's brought a version of that show to the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire - including some lost work which has been unearthed.

With over 100 works, it's the largest ever staged in Ayrshire.

"It's a homecoming for Colquhoun who was from Kilmarnock, but for MacBryde too, who was from Maybole [in South Ayrshire]," says Damian.

"Each piece of text, each letter, each telegram has this extra emotional resonance because of that."

Because homosexuality was illegal in the Roberts' lifetimes, there are few intimate works or personal letters in public hands.

But Damian believes the new-found interest in them could lead to discoveries.

In the opening chapter of his novel, he imagined a scene where the young lovers lie naked and intertwined on the hillside above the town.

When the novel was published last year, Robert Colquhoun's niece, Lorna, got in touch to show him a pencil sketch her uncle had drawn at the time, which showed that exact image.

"I didn't know that it existed," he says.

"She only thought about it after she read the book. And brought me this great big Ikea bag full of letters and drawings, many of which have been included in the latest exhibition."

The Kilmarnock exhibition also includes a work made by Colquhoun in the 1940s which was found in a rubbish tip in the US.

Jake Aronskind from New York is a thrift shopper who was intrigued when his father Ofer sent him a photo of a painting he'd spotted in his local municipal dump in New England.

"I liked it," Ofer recalls.

"It looked old and a bit like Picasso."

That was in autumn last year, and the work remained in his garage until the spring when he decided to investigate the signature.

He discovered that not only was Colquhoun nicknamed McPicasso to MacBryde's MacBraque, but that all things related to the Two Roberts led back to Damian Barr.

"We'd been in touch with a few auction houses and the National Galleries of Scotland but no one was able to help until we found Damian," says Jake.

He introduced them to the UK auction house Lyon and Turnbull, which was able to confirm that the work was indeed Colquhoun's Man Holding Stick. Made in 1946, it is worth an estimated £20,000 to £30,000.

They also carried out conservation work to allow the painting to be ready to go back on display in Kilmarnock.

Jake says he doesn't know whether his family will keep their new-found artwork or sell it, but they do intend to visit Scotland next month to see it on the gallery wall.

"It's been an absolute whirlwind of an adventure," he says.

"And for someone who appreciates art, it's been really nice to own a piece that has global fandom and is now back in its rightful home in Kilmarnock, with our family name next to it."

Damian believes there could be many more works yet to be unearthed.

"They staged an exhibition here in Kilmarnock at a working men's club in the 1940s when they sold at least 20 works," he says. "Where are they?"

He points to a sketch on a piece of newspaper entitled Beer, which Colquhoun presented to a publican in exchange for drinks.

Then there's the still life which appeared on the BBC's Antiques' Roadshow recently, given to an English vicar as thanks for his efforts in overturning a ban on them entering their local pub because of unruly behaviour.

"There will be pubs that will have works by MacBride and Colquhoun on the wall, next to the Scampi Fries.

"Writing the novel and staging the exhibition has made people look again at things on their walls. It's a beginning, not an end. More work will turn up."

Damian hopes the Colquhoun and MacBryde families – who will gather together in Kilmarnock for the first time in 60 years – can at last have pride in their brilliant boys.

And he hopes their story can inspire others.

"It says a lot about how Scotland has changed and how Scotland wants to see itself," he says.

"It can't sit back and take that for granted. Out there right now there will be a Robert or a Bobby, there will be a Roberta, or Balvinder, a young person who feels that they're different and sees the world differently and wants to make art about that.

"This show is for that generation. They can see what the Two Roberts did in 1933 and ask, 'What can I do in 2026?'."