ABSTRACT
The regressive and reactionary elements of European nationalism in the inter-war period were present only sporadically in Scotland, and even then rarely existed within the field of cultural activities. Certainly mainstream nationalism in Scotland, as a political and cultural dynamic, sought to bring about a sense of community all other desires. Naturally the profile of this community, in the 1930s, was markedly different to the multi-cultural ethos of contemporary society. While the key axis of debate surrounding nationalism on the Continent was the issue of race, divisions within Scottish society were more often marked by issues of religion and class. In these circumstances, the authorship of a visual culture which explored the potential of nationalism and modernism shifted from William McCance to J. D. Fergusson and his circle in the late 1930s, but a discreet nationalist sentiment filtered through most Scottish art in this period.
