A Poem of Remote Lives: Images of Eriskay, 1934 Enigma of Werner Kissling, 1895 - 1988

by Michael W. Russell, Gus Wylie (Foreword)

Dying in poverty in a Dumfries nursing home in 1988, Werner Kissling left behind a single suitcase filled with personal papers, photographs and lantern slides which suggested a unique life. They revealed the story of this German aristocrat whose life had mirrored and reflected the 20th century and who was passionately involved with the ordinary people of the Western Isles. This biography explores his extraordinary life and work. Born in Silesia (then in the German Empire, but now part of Poland), in 1895, Kissling grew up in luxury, the second son of a wealthy brewing magnate and a mother who dabbled in the arts and particularly photography. In the suitcase at his death was the postcard sent by his mother from the Isle of Lewis in 1905 which inspired in Kissling a love of the Hebrides which was to last until his death. Kissling went on to make the first film in Gaelic, on the island of Eriskay and to take a series of photographs of the people of that island as they went about their everyday tasks. A Poem of Remote Lives is the title of that film and an apt description of his own enigmatic existence, detached and protected by his wealth. His legacy of photographs, writings and friends is rich and varied.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 21, 1997

About the author

Michael William Russell is a Scottish politician, author and cultural activist. He is SNP MSP for Argyll and Bute and Constitutional Affairs and Europe Secretary in the Scottish Government.

Russell was brought up in Troon in Ayrshire, where he attended Marr College. He studied at Edinburgh University, graduating with an MA in Scottish Literature and History. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Honorary Professor in the College of Arts at Glasgow University.

He has written books on Glasgow, Edinburgh, Edwin Muir and the German aristocrat Werner Kissling, who photographed the people of Eriskay in the 1930s. He edited Winnie Ewing's autobiography and co-wrote Grasping the Thistle (2006) with Dennis MacLeod.