Adam Christie

A writer, musician and visual artist, Adam Christie is today known for his sculpture – mostly chunky stone faces that fused Biblical narratives with Celtic imagery.

Christie suffered from what would today be described as clinical depression. He was born in Shetland but was relocated in his early thirties to Sunnyside Hospital, formerly the Royal Asylum of Montrose, where he remained a long-term resident until his death in 1950.

Throughout his time at Sunnyside, Christie seems to have maintained his creative energy and determination. With no money or formal art training, he made work out of found materials: he used sandstone from an old, ruined bridge, for example, which he worked with tools such as nails or thick pieces of glass.

Rough-hewn and appealingly sturdy, Christie’s sculptures show not real people, but imaginary figures influenced by religion and myth. Several works also have texts carved into the bases, usually simply the date and the artist’s name.

During his lifetime, Christie was on the fringes of an artistic flowering in Montrose. In the 1920s he formed a close friendship with fellow sculptor William Lamb, although their styles were very different.

Christie gave away most of his work, and today there are pieces in several public collections, including Angus Council, Glenesk Museum and Shetland Museum, which is home to Christie’s largest known sculptural work, ‘Goliath’.

In 2016, when a bronze statue by sculptor Brian Wyllie was commissioned to celebrate Christie’s life, three of the artist’s distinctive heads were discovered in a garden in Montrose.