The Scottish Contemporary Art Auction Sun, 28th Feb 2021 Viewing: The catalogue is available to view online 24 hours a day. Lot 543 Estimate: £300 - £500 + Fees BIG SISTERS, AN OIL BY MOIRA BEATY * MOIRA BEATY (SCOTTISH 1922 - 2015), BIG SISTERS oil on board, signed 26.5cm x 36.5cm Framed and under glass Artist's label verso. Note: Moira went to Glasgow School of Art in 1939 where her contemporaries included Joan Eardley and Margot Sandeman. These three young women were regarded by their lecturers as the brightest stars of their generation. After one year as a student she was recruited to Bletchley Park where she worked as a code breaker, one of Churchill's 'corkscrew thinkers'. She returned to GSA in 1947 to complete her studies. Moira's enduring talent was recognised again in 2014 at the age of 92 with a sell-out exhibition in Kirkcudbright. Moira Beaty was a resolute and determined woman who was an integral part of the famous group at Bletchley Park who did much to aid the Allies' victory in the Second World War. She worked in Hut 8 where Alan Turing and Peter Twinn set up the Naval Enigma Code. Beaty was responsible to Twinn - the first mathematician to be recruited to Bletchley. ''I discovered something,'' Beaty modestly remarked years later, ''a code within a code. I was immediately moved to within the codebreakers and became a cryptographer working on the German Secret Service codes.'' The Twinn team was involved in breaking the secretive Abwehr codes which were even more complicated than the ordinary military messages. The information this provided to the Allies in such major operations as the desert campaign, the D-Day landings and the sinking of the battleship Tirpitz proved vital to the war effort. Her first solo exhibition was at the Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh in 1979 and at the Collins Gallery in Glasgow. Her works were also seen at the Cadogan Contemporary Gallery in London and around Dumfries - notably at the Gracefield Arts Centre. In 2001 Gracefield held a major retrospective exhibition of both Moira and Stuart Beaty's works, entitled Full Circle. In 2014 Beaty officially opened the Kirkcudbright Summer Art Exhibition: Glasgow Girls 1920 - 1960, and held a solo exhibition in the town's Harbour Cottage Gallery. Both exhibitions were hugely popular and, at 92, Moira Beaty was still making a strong impression and gaining new collectors. Condition Report Condition is very good overall, with no visible signs of restoration, damage, or known issues. Additional images have been uploaded to our website. .