Scotland Art Links

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was born one of eleven children in the Townhead area of Glasgow, close to Glasgow Cathedral. From these beginnings, he has become one of the most celebrated architects of his generation.

James Herbert MacNair (1868-1955) is the least well known member of the so-called "Glasgow Four," a group of designers that also included the great Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret and Frances Macdonald. MacNair was born in Glasgow, educated at the Collegiate School, Greenock, and, after studying watercolour painting in France, apprenticed himself to John Honeyman, a Glasgow architect, where he became friends with Mackintosh, a draughtsman with the firm. They attended Glasgow School of Art evenings, eventually meeting their future wives and co-workers, the Macdonald sisters.

Frances Macdonald, like her sister Margaret, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Herbert MacNair (whom she married in 1899), belonged to the group known as 'The Four' which pioneered the Glasgow Style. She trained at the Glasgow School of Art, where she met MacNair. Her work and development has much in common with those of her sister, although her figures tend to be more emaciated and anguished.

Margaret Macdonald (British, 1863-1933). Born in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Studied at Glasgow School of Art where she met Charles Rennie Mackintosh (c.1893), marrying him in 1900. Together with Mackintosh, her sister, Frances, and Charles's friend Herbert MacNair (who married Frances in 1899), formed the group known as 'The Four', who worked in close association and were pioneers of the so-called Glasgow Style. Her watercolours were influential in Mackintosh's own creative development, and she collaborated with him on many of his decorative and architectural projects.

Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell, 1883 - 1937. Painter. Born in Edinburgh, Cadell travelled in Europe, studying the work of Cezanne amongst others, before returning to Edinburgh. He became one of the Scottish Colourists.

John Duncan Fergusson, 1874 - 1961. Painter. The youngest of four children, J.D. Fergusson was born and brought up in Leith. He was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh and initially followed a medical career before being drawn to Paris (1895) where he developed his artistic technique and rubbed shoulders with the young Matisse and Picasso. Fergusson's style was characterised by strong colour, evident brush-work and elegance of design. He was strongly influenced by Samuel J. Peploe (1871 - 1935), who had also trained in Paris, and stayed with his family when in Edinburgh. With Peploe, Francis Cadell (1883 - 1937) and George Hunter (1879 - 1931), Fergusson was one of the Scottish Colourists, but maintained studios in Paris and in London, where he met his wife.

George Leslie Hunter, 1879 - 1931. Painter and landscapes and still-life. Born in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Hunter emigrated with his family to the USA in 1892. He settled in San Francisco and took up employment as a magazine illustrator. He visited Glasgow in 1903, but returned to San Francisco intent on settling there as a professional artist. However, he lost all of his work in the fire which followed the great earthquake that struck the city in 1906 and this precipitated his return to Glasgow. He regularly visited the continent and was influenced by the work of Van Gogh and Matisse.

Samuel John Peploe, 1871 - 1935. Impressionist painter, particularly noted for his still-life works. Born in Edinburgh and trained at the Edinburgh College of Art. He became one of the Scottish Colourists.

Joseph Crawhall, 1861 - 1913. Painter. Born in Morpeth (N. England) and brought up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Crawhall trained at King's College School in London, where he met E.A. Walton (1860 - 1922). Crawhall, Walton and James Guthrie (1859 - 1930) painted at Roseneath (Glasgow) in 1879. Together they became part of the group of artists known as the 'Glasgow Boys'.

Thomas Millie Dow, studied painting in Paris before moving to Glasgow in 1880. He became associated with the celebrated 'Glasgow Boys', a loose knit group of approximately twenty innovative painters working at the end of the nineteenth century. The paintings have been on exhibition at a retrospective of Dow's work at Kirkcaldy Museum and Gallery.

Sir James Guthrie (1859 ), Scottish painter, and one of the leaders of the so-called Glasgow school of painters, was born at Greenock. Though in his youth he was influenced by John Pettie in London, and subsequently studied in Paris, his style, which is remarkable for grasp of character, breadth and spontaneity, is due to the lessons taught him by observation of nature, and to the example of Crawhall, by which he benefited.

Edward Atkinson Hornel, 1864 - 1933. Artist, noted for his paintings of rural scenes. Born in Australia, the son of Scottish immigrants, the family returned to Kirkcudbright where Hornel grew up and settled. He trained at the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh and worked for a time in Belgium.

Sir John Lavery was born in Belfast in 1856, but trained in Glasgow, London and Paris. He was apprenticed to a photographer in Glasgow, where his ambition was to become a portrait painter from the experience he gained retouching negatives and coloring photographs.

William York Macgregor was born at Finnart in Dunbartonshire on 14th October 1855. He was the third son of John Macgregor of Finnart, and by his second wife Margaret York. He had studied at Western Academy in Glasgow with James Paterson (1854–1932), who knew him as “Puffy” or “Gigi”. These two young men then went on to the Glasgow School of Art, studying under Robert Greenless RSW (1829-1896). They painted together from 1877 at St. Andrews, Stonehaven and Nairn, practising a form of plein-air painting. During this period WY was a pupil of James Docharty (1829–78).

Edward Arthur Walton, 1860 - 1922. Painter, who became one of the 'Glasgow Boys'. Born in East Renfrewshire, Walton trained briefly in Dusseldorf (Germany), before returning to study at the Glasgow School of Art. Here he met, and began to paint with, James Guthrie (1859 - 1930) and Joseph Crawhall (1861-1913). The group later widened to include George Henry (1858 - 1943) and John Lavery (1856 - 1941), and became known as the 'Glasgow Boys'. Walton acquired a studio in Cambuskenneth (Stirling) in the late 1880s and many of the Glasgow Boys were visitors.

The Art Society of Inverness.

Art Galleries in Scotland.

Arts from Rampant Scotland Directory.

Directory of Scottish Galleries.

Glasgow School Of Art Archives.

Links Library. Here we have listed a range of websites relevant to the Arts in Scotland.

Naval Art Resources.

Scottish Arts Links.

Scottish Arts Council Links Library.

Scottish Borders Arts and Crafts.

Art History Resources

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