George Douglas Brown
		George Douglas Brown (1869-1902) was the illegitimate son of an Ayrshire farmer. With the help of a bursary he went to Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1901 he published "The House with the Green Shutters", the story of  a man's struggle to succeed in a village, despite the small-mindedness of the local community. Brown's book is often seen as a reaction to the kailyard school sentimentality and is brutal and direct in its description of Gourlay, the central character, and his violent antipathy to the "bodies" of the fictional village of Barbie (based on Brown's native Ochiltree). These are the locals, who are unceasingly destructive and negative in their dealings with him as he builds his carrier's business. The panel is composed to express the ambivalent relationship between Gourlay and the villagers. He rages at their constant spitefullness while at the same time he protects them and shelters them. He is holding his house safe away from the contamination of the villagers malice; and he wants to smash it down on their heads. He is driven by anger to build. Gourlay is a raging hero holding the house like a crown he is about to set upon his own head above the whispering beggars and busybodies who look as if they are blind. The closest beckons the viewer to join them in their tale-telling and to share the gleefully poisonous lies. It is always easier to join with the crowd than to listen to oneself and sometimes the cost of doing that is brutality and stubbornness.
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