Robin Fleming (1932-2020) CBE DL

By James Knox, 01.07.2020

Robin Fleming at an exhibition of the Fleming Collection's paintings.

Robin Fleming, who died peacefully at home on the 26^th June, played a pivotal role in developing and securing the future of the Fleming Collection, writes director, James Knox.

When the sale of the private investment bank, Robert Fleming & Company, was announced in 2000, a buzz of concern circulated in the art world as to the fate of its renowned collection, which was considered, then as now, one of the finest collections of Scottish art outside public institutions. To secure the future of the Fleming Collection, which numbered over 600 works, Robin Fleming was central in setting up the Fleming – Wyfold Art Foundation endowed not only to acquire the existing collection but to fulfil a wider vision of promoting Scottish art and creativity through cultural diplomacy, education and touring exhibitions and loans which it continues to do today.

The Fleming Collection dates back to 1968 when the Fleming family investment bank, founded by Dundonian, Robert Fleming in 1873, began to acquire Scottish art to hang in its offices worldwide. To mark its 50^th Anniversary in 2018, Mr Robin, as he was referred to by many, recalled that: “I have been involved in one way or another to varying degrees throughout the period, having been made a Director of my grandfather’s firm, Robert Fleming & Co in 1964.  Business came first during the beginning but eventually I had more time to appreciate and enhance the Collection.”

At its outset, the collection was built up by one of the bank’s Directors, David Donald, who had a keen eye for excellence.  On Donald’s death in 1985, Mr Robin assumed responsibility for the collection and, assisted by its Keeper of Art Bill Smith and subsequently Selina Skipwith, continued to focus on acquiring museum quality works including portraits by Allan Ramsay, Henry Raeburn and David Wilkie.

In practice, he had a relatively free rein when it came to buying, but he still had to get clearance from the board for major purchases. On one occasion after acquiring William McTaggart’s early masterpiece The Village, Whitehouse, he swore Bill Smith to secrecy until he had “sorted out how to pay for it.”

Contemporary artists were equally admired with a particular enthusiasm for the school known as the New Glasgow Boys and Girls, such as Stephen Conroy, Alison Watt and Steven Campbell who were making waves on the international art scene through their radical approach to figurative painting. 

When asked to pick a favourite from the collection for Scottish Art News, Mr Robin complained that it was “near impossible”, given the “huge admiration and respect for many of the artists represented”. He went on to select Stephen Conroy’s The Garden, explaining “I have chosen an artist as much as one of his pictures. While travelling south from the Highlands one day in the 1980’s, my wife Vicky and I dropped in on a very young Stephen’s studio near the Erskine Bridge over the Clyde.  We have always enjoyed his work and also following his career.”

Through Mr Robin’s enjoyment of Scottish art and foresight in establishing the Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation, he has ensured that the collection is shared far and wide. As James Holloway, trustee of the Foundation and previous director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, says: “Thanks to Robin Fleming, Scottish art has an additional, powerful voice across the United Kingdom and beyond.” 

We would be very grateful if you would record any reminiscences of Mr Robin’s involvement in Scottish Art by contacting us.