As the necessary historicisation of Scotland’s pre-digital but all-too-recent artistic past runs on apace, it is vital that collections are put on show to remind Year Zero types that the world didn’t begin with NFTs and AI, but with hard graft and artistic vision. So it goes with Story, which fills Edinburgh Printmakers’ downstairs gallery with what is effectively a greatest hits selection that joins the dots between the gallery’s assorted homes since it was founded in 1967 as The Printmakers’ Workshop. Seen together, the 40 works on show also become something of a rough guide to the high rollers of contemporary Scottish art since then.

Drawn from Edinburgh Printmakers’ permanent collection, the exhibition begins with the muscularity of work by John Bellany, Jock McFadyen, Ken Currie and Peter Howson, as well as pieces from Sam Ainsley and Carol Rhodes. This moves onwards to several generations of art stars, with contributions from the likes of David Shrigley, Rachel Maclean, Nathan Coley and Katy Dove. More recent incumbents such as Hanna Tuulikki are also present.

With brief introductory essays from former Edinburgh Printmakers’ directors shown alongside the images, viewers can learn about its evolution as a much-needed resource, being the UK’s first open-access printmaking studio. These words chart the organisation’s move from Victoria Street to Market Street, then Union Street, before setting up in its wonderfully translucent current home in Fountainbridge. The result of this lovingly tended potpourri is a powerful primer of Edinburgh Printmakers’ ethos and how it has changed from its grassroots beginnings. As the centre’s 60th anniversary looms, Story might also be seen as a curtain raiser or first draft of what will presumably be bigger things to come.

The upstairs gallery does something similar with the Jerwood Collection in Impressions, with 20 works by the likes of Tracey Emin, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Eduardo Paolozzi and other household names lined up. Having these two exhibitions running in tandem rubs both sides of the same artistic coin as it emphasises how printmaking has been embraced by major artists, both at the beginning of their careers and in their prime. In this way, Story and Impressions become a little microcosm of the more lauded shape of stuff to come. For now, both exhibitions show off an impressively rich tapestry of movers and shakers spanning decades of British art that sees it transformed from black and white to living colour.  

Story: Selected Works From Edinburgh Printmakers’ Collection, and Impressions: Selected Works From Jerwood Collection are both on display at Edinburgh Printmakers until Sunday 29 June; main picture: Peter Howson.