Alan Cumming portrait unveiled at Scottish gallery

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/dec/31/alan-cumming-scottish-national-portrait-gallery

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A portrait of actor Alan Cumming is to be unveiled at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The 49-year-old, who was awarded an OBE in 2009 for his services to entertainment and his role as an LGBT campaigner, is one of Scotland’s leading actors with roles ranging from Taggart and The Good Wife on television, to the X-Men films and Cabaret and Macbeth on stage.

The portrait by Christian Hook is the winning commission for the Sky Arts portrait artist of the year 2014 competition. The artist, who is from Gibraltar where he teaches the subject, painted Cumming in his home city of New York, depicting him on stage surrounded by footlights. In a nod to Cummings’ celebrated Broadway performance in Cabaret, a top hat sits beside him, while the actor’s Scottish heritage is emphasised in a kilt draped around his neck.

Christopher Baker, director of the gallery, said: “This extraordinary portrait celebrates the art of performance. It’s a remarkable tribute to a widely admired actor and an impressive work of painterly drama, which displays the skills of a talented artist, whose work will now become more widely recognised.”

• This article was amended on 31 December 2014. An earlier version said the portrait showed Cumming wearing a tartan scarf. It shows him with a kilt, not a scarf, around his neck