Damian Barr

We meet writer Damian Barr to discuss his new book The Two Roberts.

This intoxicating, brave and compassionate novel from the author of Maggie and Me reimagines one of the stongest and most passionate love stories of modern British art, following Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde from their encounter at Glasgow Art School to partying with Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon in London as the Second World War draws near.

'He will stay like this forever, Robert's arm draped round him. They will be forever twenty.'

Scotland, 1933. Bobby MacBryde is on his way. After years grafting at Lees Boot Factory, he's off to the Glasgow School of Art, to his future. On his first day he will meet another Robert, a quiet man with loose dark curls - and never leave his side.

Together they will spend every penny and every minute devouring Glasgow - its botanical gardens, the Barras market, a whole hidden city - all the while loving each other behind closed doors. With the world on the brink of war, their unrivalled talent will take them to Paris, Rome, London. They will become stars as the bombs fall, hosting wild parties with the likes of Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Elizabeth Smart. But the brightest stars burn fastest.

Stunningly reimagined, The Two Roberts is a profoundly moving story of devotion and obsession, art and class. It is a love letter to MacBryde and Colquhoun, the almost-forgotten artists who tried to change the way the world sees - and paid a devastating price.

We also discuss the new exhibition curated by Damian. Explore the lives and work of the ‘Two Roberts’ — Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun, two Ayrshire artists who first met at Glasgow School of Art in 1933. This infamous duo, both lovers and creative partners, played a vital role in mid-20th century British art influencing contemporaries including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and John Minton.

This exhibition, the first in England since 1962, surveys their remarkable creative journey from 1930s Glasgow to wartime Europe, through London during the Blitz, ending in tragedy in 1962. This exhibition traces their spectacular rise and fall and puts them back where they were—at the centre of an extraordinary creative landscape in a rapidly changing world.

Visit the exhibition Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun: Artists, Lovers, Outsiders, from 15 October 2025–12 April 2026, at Charleston in Lewes: https://www.charleston.org.uk/exhibition/robert-macbryde-and-robert-colquhoun-artists-lovers-outsiders/

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