In 1903, this would become the first of his paintings to enter Dundee’s permanent collection, after it was purchased from an exhibition of Carmichael’s work held by the GAA in his honour in 1902.
"[5] Dundee at this time was one of the centres of a Celtic Revival movement in Scotland that was closely related to a growing interest in Highland and Gaelic culture.
The following year Carmichael showed Geillis Duncan, A Dundee Witch, 1591AD at the GAA exhibition and would continue to draw on Scottish historical sources for the rest of his career.
Like Patrick Geddes, Carmichael believed that art should be seen and enjoyed everywhere, famously comparing it to “little green leaves that grow between the stones of the city.”[6] In 1898 he was commissioned to paint a large panel for the Ward Chapel Mission Hall in Brown Street on the subject of Christ receiving little children.
In 1901 the Dundee Liberal Association unveiled in its new rooms at 51 Reform Street a massive mural entitled The Leaders of Scottish Liberty .
The painting was “intended to show the progress of Scottish liberty by typical figures selected from the history of the nation from early times to the present day...
It shows the epoch-makers of Scottish nationality who led the way in war, in the Church, in literature, and in politics.”[7] Its fourteen subjects covered nineteen centuries, including St Columba, William Wallace, John Knox, Robert Burns and Thomas Carlyle.
As well as extensive local press coverage, the mural was publicised in the London Star and the Daily Chronicle, and was the subject of an illustrated feature in the Scottish Patriot.
Then the desire of such things will evaporate, and merge into the recognition of the idea that all things belong to one and all.”[8] Carmichael’s ideal of socialism was “the development of man to his highest in his mental, moral, and physical nature, this only being possible by striving to give all men equal opportunities of development.” Art played an important role because “beautiful environment of life, home, and law will gradually efface from our earth mental and physical ugliness.”[8] Carmichael was also a vocal advocate for women's rights.
The Advertiser described the piece: “he has grouped in an artistically decorative manner a succession of historical personages, beginning with St Margaret, Queen of Malcolm Canmore, and including many women who have made a name in Scottish history… [A]lthough exception might be taken to some of the characters selected by Mr Carmichael, the idea is excellent.”[9] One of the selections the reviewer might have taken exception to was Carmichael’s decision to place 17th-century militant activist Jenny Geddes in the central position rather than the expected Mary Queen of Scots.
He claimed that “Carmichael’s studio in the Nethergate is like an oasis in the desert.”[10] By this time, the other Dundee artists who had embraced symbolism and the Celtic Revival had returned to a more conventional style.
Carmichael, on the other hand, continued to paint Celtic and Highland subjects as part of a wider fascination for Scottish history and culture.