Download a PDF of the exhibition catalogue - The Scottish Gallery

Paintings by William McTaggart, R.S.A.
Selected for the Scottish Committee of the Arts Council by J. W. Blyth, Esq.
In his admirable biography of the artist Sir James L. Caw wrote: “Nobody could have suspected when in 1835 the name
of William McTaggart was registered amongst the births in Campbeltown parish, that the name of the most original and
fascinating painters of the nineteenth century had been recorded for the first time.”
Well it was so, and as the years passed and his art progressed we found more and more to excite our wonder
and admiration. We are told in the same biography that as a young boy he drew precociously well – whence came that
talent is a mystery – and when after much opposition his wish to study art was conceded, he soon showed that his talent
was outstanding and of an original character. When at the age of sixteen he joined the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh,
he came into close contact with many of the strongest personalities in Scottish Art. Orchardson, Pettie, Tom Graham
and George Paul Chalmers were all there, and became his close friends. One would naturally have expected that their
art would influence his, but no, this lad from a croft at the extreme corner of the Mull at Kintyre pursued his own
course and became the first and foremost impressionist painter in Scotland. McTaggart’s impressionism was inborn and
spontaneous. It was not influenced by any theories or dogmas, and he was unaware of the movement in France. On a
varnishing day at the Royal Scottish Academy he took Wingate aside and asked: “What is this impressionism they are
all talking about?” Wingate’s naïve reply was: “I fancy it is just what you and I have been doing for a good many years.”
It is highly probable that McTaggart’s impressionism may one day be acclaimed the most completely satisfying of
all in this lovely art phase. His impressionism embraces every aspect of his pictures, notably in his use of figures, so often
misunderstood. We frequently hear, as a complaint, that McTaggart’s children are always the same, but this Exhibition
should quickly dispel that erroneous notion. McTaggart’s use of figures in his composition is one of the most fascinating
features in his art. They are always part of the impression. In some cases the impression was a strong one, in others it is
more fleeting, or it may be so light that the figures appear only as notes of lovely colour. A beautiful example of these
differences will be found in “A Country Lane,” No. 37 in the catalogue. Here the artist’s attention has been momentarily
arrested by a rather charming incident. A boy is instructing a little girl in the manipulation of a penny whistle.
How beautifully the incident has been portrayed, the boy with head inclined, intent on his job, the girl eagerly extending
her hands for the whistle, and all conveyed to the canvas by a few vital brush strokes. And how perfectly the incident
takes its place in the composition with another group treated quite differently – its impressionism no the artist being so
slight – but conveying that impressionism just as convincingly and just as happily placed.
McTaggart’s pictures of the sea are the most wonderful ever painted, and his supremacy in this branch of his art
is apt to minimize the interest in his landscapes. In this Exhibition the landscapes have been given their due prominence,
and it must be apparent that it is simply a change of subject, and that all the excellencies of the sea pictures are here
also. In fact, it may well be that some of the landscapes provide even more scope for his exquisite sense of colour, his
resourceful technique and lightness of touch.
McTaggart loved all nature, land, sea, sky, air, and his fellow men. This Love radiates from his pictures.
We finish as we begin, with a quotation. In an able article on McTaggart’s art the late P. McOmish Dott wrote:
“Whether we delight in McTaggart’s pictures for their simple natural beauty, or the art faculties which they reveal, or
the faith, courage and joy in living which inspire them, it is beyond question that they contain the blossom and fruit of
great natural gifts, illuminated by a powerful intelligence and consecrated by earnest endeavor.”
J. W. B.
1954
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