A striking new painting by the celebrated Scottish artist Ken Currie, depicting the pre-eminent forensic anthropologist Professor Dame Sue Black, will go on public display for the very first time when the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (SNPG) reopens this coming Friday April 30 2021.

The large-scale portrait, arriving at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) on long-term loan from the artist, will be shown alongside several other new works as part of The Modern Portrait exhibition.

Growing up in the Highlands of Scotland, Sue worked in a butcher’s shop from the age of 12. She began her anatomical studies at the University of Aberdeen and in 1999 she undertook the first of three tours of Kosovo where she worked to identify the human remains of the victims of war crimes. She worked at the University of Dundee before becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engagement at Lancaster University where she leads on projects from H-unique (which sets out to harness anatomical hand variation to initiatives such as Eden Project North. She regularly assists the police with specialist forensic work and is the current President of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

She has cited the job of a forensic anthropologist as being “to reunite the identity constructed during a life with what remains of the corporeal form in death”.

Titled Unknown Man, Currie’s poignant, large-scale painting shows Professor Black in surgical robes standing behind the covered remains of a body. The idea for the portrait grew when Currie and Professor Black met during a BBC Radio 4 discussion programme on the relationship between art and anatomy. Currie later visited the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee, where Professor Black then was Director. The artist was so moved by the work he encountered there that he asked Professor Black to sit for a portrait.

Currie regards Unknown Man as being connected to his popular SNPG commission Three Oncologists; the former representing a progression from his 2002 painting. With both works now on display in The Modern Portrait, visitors now have a very special opportunity to experience both in the same space.

The artist Ken Currie said: “I am delighted to be able to loan the painting Unknown Man to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. This will make the painting more accessible to a wider public and hopefully draw attention to the astonishing work that Sue Black has undertaken in her long career as an Anatomist and Forensic Anthropologist throughout the world. I’d like to thank both the Portrait Gallery for facilitating this loan and Sue Black herself for her patience and co-operation in the making of this painting.”

Professor Black said: “It was a terrifying moment, anticipating what Ken's portrayal might look like, but I was blown away. The image is striking, powerful, determined, focussed and no-nonsense. The portrait is not about me though, it is about the unidentified man, it is about the job, the skills and the experience needed to do the job which is to reunite him with his name. Ken has captured the sentiment perfectly and so sensitively. Had my parents been alive to see it, my Mother would have despaired that I had not had my 'hair done' and my father would have said that it looked like too good a bucket to hide under the table. Good old-fashioned Scottish Presbyterianism keeps your feet on the ground and your head out of the clouds.”

Christopher Baker, Director of European and Scottish Art and Portraiture at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: "Encounters between accomplished artists and subjects can have electrifying results and that is certainly the case with this powerful portrait of the distinguished forensic scientist Professor Dame Sue Black by Ken Currie. It has a confrontational quality and alludes to her important and revelatory work, with all the drama and intensity and careful calibration that are the hallmarks of the painter's career. We are proud to be able to show this extraordinary painting, which will be a key attraction in The Modern Portrait display, when the Scottish National Portrait Gallery re-opens to the public."

Ken Currie is one of the UK’s leading painters, renowned for his unsettling portrayal of the human figure. A Glasgow School of Art graduate, Currie forged his career in the 1980s as part of a generation of painters known as the "New Glasgow Boys”. His work is known for its dominant themes of mortality, the body, mysterious rituals and quasi-medical practices, often tackled through unnerving imagery. His work resides in collections worldwide, including Tate, London and the New York Public Library. Currie is well represented in Scotland’s national collection, with over 55 artworks.

Visitors can book their free tickets now on the National Galleries of Scotland website.