The forgotten Studio: Art, William McTaggart,

Friday, 24 August 2012

Art, William McTaggart,

ART SUNDAY; Seas, Rivers, Lakes, Lochs and Oceans

Welcome to Art Sunday, I shall be hosting Art Sunday this week and I hope I manage to be a good host to every one. The title of this weeks theme is;

‘Seas, Rivers, Lakes, Lochs and Oceans’. The vast majority of the worlds surface is covered with water and this water has so often inspired great artists through out history to produce some of their finest works. I hope you like this theme, it can be any work of art from any period in any country that fits into the general theme. I am looking forward to visiting your entries; please leave a link to your entry in the comments box.

Thank you for participating hope and I hope you enjoy this weeks Art Sunday.

My entry for this week is the Seascapes of William Mctaggart 1835 – 1910.

William McTaggart was one of the finest painters Scotland has produced, an original genius of impressionism before it even had a label. In his early years he taught himself drawing and painting, and at the age of twelve he was able to earn extra money and delight friends with his ability as a portrait painter. McTaggart was born of crofting parents at Aros Farm, near Machrihanish, at the present day a farm beside the East end of the airfield at Machrihanish. His parents were Gaelic speaking and his mother was a granddaughter of the religious poet, Duncan MacDougall. His parents are buried in Kilkenzie churchyard, and in her later years his mother came back from Glasgow to live in Campbeltown.

At the age of twelve William McTaggart was an apprenticed apothecary to Dr. Buchanan of Campbeltown, who quickly recognised his ability and encouraged him. When his apprenticeship was over William McTaggart took the bold step of sailing off to Glasgow with his savings, determined to make his living from painting. He was advised to enrol at the Trustees Academy, Edinburgh. At the time McTaggart entered the school Robert Scott Lauder (1805 - 1809) was the director of Antique Life and Colour Studies. Between 1852 and 1860 painting by the Pre-Raphaelites Milais and Holman Hunt were exhibited in Edinburgh but, although excited by their naturalism, McTaggart moved to perfect a truth of atmosphere by use of broken colour. David Fincham in the introduction to the "McTaggart Centenary Exhibition 1955" in the Tate Gallery writes "As early as 1875 McTaggart had invented a system of impressionism different from but comparable to that of Sisley, Monet and Renoir".

Although William McTaggart lived most of his working life in Edinburgh and after 1889 at Lasswade, he returned nearly every year to Kintyre, and places in this peninsula were the sites and inspiration of many of his paintings completed in his studio during the winter. McTaggart and his family came to Kilkerran, Campbeltown, for a holiday in 1870 - a working holiday as he was always a very energetic painter. After 1870 nearly every summer found him and his family in Kintyre, at Machrihanish, Tarbert, Carradale or Southend. His output was tremendous. During the 1880's McTaggart painted a lot in watercolours. There are many beautiful sketches of Kintyre, Glenramskill, Machrihanish, Kildavie, Bonnie Coniglen, Pennyseorach Bay, Southend, Dunaverty, Brunerican and many pictures of Carradale were painted "on the spot." The summer visits of 1887 and 1888 were completely given over to watercolours, some to be transformed into larger compositions in oil in the studio. In 1892 McTaggart altered his holidays to visit Kintyre in June instead of August and thereafter came practically every year in this month till 1908. He found in the long light days new effects of light to study. 1894 was a particularly busy year for him and 1895 a particularly fine one for weather. 1894 was a particularly busy year for him and 1895 a particularly fine one for weather.

McTaggart never missed a R.S.A. Exhibition between 1855 and 1895. He showed a hundred and ninety pictures of which seventy two were portraits and nineteen water-colours all exhibited after 1875. Hugh Cameron, a well known critic, gave his opinion of McTaggart. 'It was pioneer work - he put aside convention after convention in his consistent and purposeful development towards the expression of the things in nature which fascinated him." Another opinion was "Best open air painter in Britain." In 1894 the "Art - Journal" of that year devoted an article to McTaggart's work entitled "A Scottish Impressionist." William McTaggart died peacefully in April 1910 and is buried in Newington Churchyard, Edinburgh. His paintings even in reproduction are an inspitation and delight

For me it is his seascapes that are so wonderful. I live next to the North East cost of Scotland. I walk these beaches almost every day. I know the light here, that soft hazy light of a summer day. I know the long summer days where it barley get dark. I know how the Hare (Scottish word for sea mist) swirls in from no where and then swirl away again, changing the light as it goes. I recognise the dark green/grey crashing seas and I hear the screeching gulls echoing above the howling winds and stormy seas. When I look at this mans seascapes I know they can’t be any where in the world except here. That is why he is maybe my favourite Scottish Painter of all time, because his portrayal is so accurate. I just wish I could have found better and bigger pictures of his work to show you.

Friday, 24 August 2012

Art, William McTaggart,

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