City modern art sponsorship boost

The Royal Scottish Academy will host the exhibitions

Gallery officials have unveiled the biggest ever sponsorship deal of modern art in Scotland.

The £400,000 funding from the Bank of Scotland will help stage major exhibitions for two years at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.

It will mean work by Andy Warhol and his German contemporary Joseph Beuys will be displayed.

The cash will also run an innovative arts education programme aimed at school children from nursery age.

Gallery bosses said the Bank of Scotland Total Art events, which will have an admission price of up to £8, would ensure modern art reaches the widest possible audience.

We will be able to mount two superb exhibitions, creating a dynamic dialogue between these artists whose work still seems incredibly vital and relevant today John Leighton National Galleries of Scotland

The Warhol show, "A Celebration of Life... and Death", will be the biggest display of his work ever staged in Scotland.

It will run from August to October this year, while the Beuys exhibition will be staged from November 2008 to January 2009.

John Leighton, director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland, which is receiving the funding and using the money to hold the exhibitions at the Royal Scottish Academy, said: "In differing ways, Warhol and Beuys smashed through traditional preconceptions of the nature of art and its relation to society.

"Thanks to the hugely generous support of Bank of Scotland, we will be able to mount two superb exhibitions, creating a dynamic dialogue between these artists whose work still seems incredibly vital and relevant today."

The Warhol show will present a broad range of his iconic work in painting, sculpture, film and photography.

His world-famous silk screen portraits of celebrities like Liz Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, Dolly Parton and Judy Garland will feature.

Many of the works are being loaned by the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and from other galleries and private collections.

Arts impresario

Beuys was at the forefront of what has come to be known as installation art, which can be seen in exhibitions all over the world.

Arguably his most famous work, a felt suit hanging from a coat hanger attached to a wall, will be included in the show.

A former Luftwaffe pilot shot down over the Crimea during the Second World War, the artist's wartime experiences inspired his work with a redemptive quality.

He had a long association with Scotland, which began when Scots arts impresario Richard Demarco first brought him to Edinburgh in 1970.

Benny Higgins, chief executive of retail for the Bank of Scotland, said: "We're delighted our new partnership with the National Galleries will bring such iconic modern artists to new audiences."