David McClure
RSA RSW (20 February 1926 – 20 February 1998) was a Scottish artist and lecturer. He is most well known for his paintings of still lifes, interiors, figures and family portraits as well as his landscape and townscape paintings of Scotland, Italy, Sicily and Spain where he lived and travelled throughout his life.
Born in
Lochwinnoch
Lochwinnoch (; sco, Lochineuch, gd, Loch Uinneach) is a village in the council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying on the banks of Castle Semple Loch and the River Calder, Lochwinnoch is ...
in 1926, McClure graduated in the early 1950s from
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
. In his early career he spent significant periods working in Spain, Italy, Sicily and later Norway. He spent the majority of professional life in
Dundee where he lived with his wife and family and taught at
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) is part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom.
History
Attempts were made to establish an art scho ...
(now part of the
University of Dundee
, mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord"
, established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College
, ...
) from 1958 and spent the last two years of his career there as head of painting, a post he took over from his friend, colleague and fellow artist,
Alberto Morrocco
Alberto Morrocco (14 December 1917 – 10 March 1998) was a Scottish artist and teacher. He is famous for his works featuring landscapes of Scotland and abroad, still-life, figure painting and interiors, but perhaps his best known works are hi ...
, before retiring in 1985.
Early life and education
McClure was born in
Lochwinnoch
Lochwinnoch (; sco, Lochineuch, gd, Loch Uinneach) is a village in the council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying on the banks of Castle Semple Loch and the River Calder, Lochwinnoch is ...
in 1926 and attended Queen's Park School in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
David served as a
Bevin Boy
Bevin Boys were young British men conscripted to work in coal mines between December 1943 and March 1948, to increase the rate of coal production, which had declined through the early years of World War II. The programme was named after Ern ...
in the mines of
West Lothian. Some of his earliest known works depict these times; mining scenes and portraits of the miners themselves as well as
surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
and
cubist
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
landscapes depicting pitheads and bings, richly influenced by the works of
Graham Sutherland
Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmaking ...
. Previously he had been studying English and History at
Glasgow University
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
but his mining experiences seemed to have help determine that an already strong interest in the visual arts developed into a need to paint. On his father's side of the family were several generations of Lochwinnoch furniture designers and manufacturers; many of the great,
Clyde-built liners were fitted out with Lochwinnoch furniture and decorative woodwork. His father, Robert, in his spare time was active in the local art society and went to drawing classes, even painting portraits of locals' prize pets or racing pigeons. David first enrolled in the Fine Art course at Edinburgh, his time divided between History of Art at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
and Drawing and Painting at the Art College. Tellingly, after a year, he moved solely to the Art College and to painting.
McClure studied at
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
from the late 1940s, where his contemporaries included
Elizabeth Blackadder
Dame Elizabeth Violet Blackadder, Mrs Houston, (24 September 1931 – 23 August 2021) was a Scottish painter and printmaker. She was the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy.
In 1962 she began ...
,
John Houston and
David Michie and where students came under the influences of the major Edinburgh figures of the time such as
Anne Redpath
Anne Redpath (1895–1965) was a Scottish artist whose vivid domestic still lifes are among her best-known works.
Life
Redpath's father was a tweed designer in the Scottish Borders. She saw a connection between his use of colour and her own. ...
,
William Gillies
William Gillies (1865–1932) was a Scottish patriot and a socialist. He helped to form the Scots National League, which joined with other bodies to form the National Party of Scotland, which in turn evolved into the Scottish National Party (S ...
,
John Maxwell,
William MacTaggart
Sir William MacTaggart, (1903–1981) was a Scottish painter known for his landscapes of East Lothian, France, Norway and elsewhere. He is sometimes called William MacTaggart the Younger to distinguish him from his grandfather, the painter Willi ...
and
Robert Henderson Blyth
Robert Henderson Blyth (21 May 1919 – 18 May 1970) was a Scottish landscape painter and artist.
Life and work
Blyth was born in the Newlands area of Glasgow and studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1934 to 1939. Blyth joined the Royal ...
. His art was enriched by his regard for the French Post-Impressionists masters such as
Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...
,
Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
,
Picasso,
Braque,
Chagall
Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...
and
Redon
Redon (; ) is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.
Geography
Redon borders the Morbihan and Loire-Atlantique departments.
It is situated at the junction of t ...
, painterly and richly coloured in a long-standing Scottish tradition. Always informed by an intellectual rigour and reference to the wider history of art, literature and music, it is generally celebratory of the good things in life and nature.
Travel and work
In 1952 McClure was awarded a Travelling Scholarship by the Art College which saw him working in France, Spain and Italy. In 1955 they awarded him an
Andrew Grant Scholarship which led to a period of travelling and painting in Scotland, Florence and Sicily where he concentrated on landscape and townscape scenes with some still life painting. After Sicily, McClure returned to Scotland where he taught at Edinburgh College of Art, while continuing to paint. During this period he was commissioned as the artist involved in the reconstruction of the King's room at
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a royal palace of the Scottish Kings. It was one of the favourite places of Mary, Queen of Scots, providing an escape from political and religious turmoil. Today it is under the stewardship of ...
, Fife where his murals and ceiling paintings can still be seen today.
The rest of his professional life was spent in
Dundee, where he lived with his family and taught from 1958 at
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) is part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom.
History
Attempts were made to establish an art scho ...
(now part of the
University of Dundee
, mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord"
, established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College
, ...
), where he earned a reputation as an inspirational and caring teacher. McClure had a strong adherence to the core values of sound drawing, the importance of tradition, art history, and learning the craft of painting. He found time to work with students who were less gifted and was appreciated for his rigorous intellect which made an impact on the college. He is remembered at Duncan of Jordanstone for ''opening the minds of staff and students'' alike and spent the last two years of his career there as head of painting a post he took over from his great friend, colleague and fellow Scottish artist,
Alberto Morrocco
Alberto Morrocco (14 December 1917 – 10 March 1998) was a Scottish artist and teacher. He is famous for his works featuring landscapes of Scotland and abroad, still-life, figure painting and interiors, but perhaps his best known works are hi ...
, before retiring in 1985. After his retirement from College, David continued to paint full-time in his studio at the family home at Strawberry Bank, Dundee. During this period he periodically suffered from ill-health, but not until the very end did this affect his painting indeed in his last years he produced what some regard as some of the finest, direct landscapes of his career inspired by summer visits to North-West Sutherland. Such was his determination and commitment to his art that he had an oxygen cylinder rigged up in his studio with a lengthy lead and mask.
Family life
McClure married Joyce Flanigan in 1950 and they had three children Robin, Paola and Kevin. David remarried in 1991 to artist and former model Angela Bradbury who he lived with for the remainder of his life. David died peacefully on his 72nd birthday at the family home at Strawberry Bank, Dundee in 1998.
Collections
David McClure's paintings are held by a number of public and private collections across the UK which include:
*
Aberdeen Art Gallery
Aberdeen Art Gallery is the main visual arts exhibition space in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1884 in a building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, with a sculpture court added in 1905. In 1900, it received the art ...
* Argyll Education Committee
*
University of Dundee
, mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord"
, established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College
, ...
*
Dundee Museum and Art Gallery
*
National Galleries of Scotland
*
National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland ( gd, Urras Nàiseanta na h-Alba), is a Scottish conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organi ...
*
Edinburgh College of Art - University of Edinburgh
*
City Art Centre Edinburgh
*
Royal Scottish Academy
*
University of St Andrews
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
*
University of Stirling
The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built ...
*
Glasgow Art Gallery
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...
*
Perth Art Gallery
*
Paisley Museum and Art Gallery
*
The Fleming Collection
The Fleming Collection is a large private collection of Scottish art. Originally a corporate collection dominating the walls of the Flemings bank, it had a home in a gallery on Berkeley Square, central London, England from 2002 until the gallery's ...
*
Royal Dutch Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
*
Bank of Scotland
The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...
*
British Rail
*
BBC Scotland
* Edinburgh Fund Managers
*
Towner Art Gallery
Towner Art Gallery is located in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on the south coast of England.
It hosts one of the most significant public art collections in the South of England and draws over 100,000 visitors a year. It was described by ITV News ...
*
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...
References
External links
*
David McClure - The Scottish Gallery Contemporary Art Since 1842
{{DEFAULTSORT:McClure, David
1926 births
1998 deaths
Academics of the University of Dundee
Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art
20th-century Scottish painters
Scottish male painters
Royal Scottish Academicians
Scottish landscape painters
Bevin Boys
Presidents of the Society of Scottish Artists
20th-century Scottish male artists