Douglas Robertson Bisset (25 May 1908 – 30 August 2000), was a Scottish sculptor, best known for his works in the city of

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 ...

and for several notable portrait busts.

Biography

Bisset was born in

Strichen Strichen is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It sits on the A981, connecting it to New Deer to the southwest and Fraserburgh to the north-northeast, and the B9093, connecting it to New Pitsligo about due west. The village got its name f ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

and served an apprenticeship with an architectural sculptor in Glasgow before studying at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

between 1930 and 1933. Bisset won the Newberry Gold Medal and a John Keppie Scholarship, which allowed him to travel to Germany, Austria and Denmark to further his studies. During 1933 he worked as an assistant teacher at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dani ...

under

Einar Utzon-Frank Aksel (Axel) Einar (Ejnar) Utzon-Frank (30 March 1888 – 15 July 1955) was a Danish sculptor and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. During his lifetime, he produced many sculptures, some of which stand as public monuments. U ...

. Bisset then spent two years at the British School in Rome before moving to Greece in 1935 where he was attached to the British School of Archaeology in Athens for three years. Bisset contributed plaster statues, now lost, of

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

and

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

for the Scottish Pavilion North which was part of the Empire Exhibition held in Glasgow in 1938. Many years later, he produced a relief panel, with an unusual take on the idea of the

Grim Reaper Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...

, which was sited above the mortuary door of the

Glasgow Victoria Infirmary The Glasgow Victoria Infirmary was a teaching hospital situated at Langside/ Battlefield in the south-east of Glasgow from 1880 until 2015. It was managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. History A competition was held to design a 120-bedded ...

. Bisset returned to Britain at the start of World War Two and settled in London. During 1939 he taught art and sculpture at the

Brighton School of Art Founded as the Brighton School of Art in 1859, the University of Brighton School of Art and Media is an organisational part of the University of Brighton, with courses in the creative arts, visual communication, media, craft and fashion and textil ...

and later in 1939 took the post of Head of Sculpture at

Leeds College of Art Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds. History It was founded in 1846 as the Leeds Schoo ...

where he remained until 1946. In 1944, the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

purchased a bronze bust by Bisset of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

holder

John Patrick Kenneally Sergeant John Patrick Kenneally (né Leslie Jackson) VC (15 March 1921 – 27 September 2000) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to B ...

. Bisset's 1950 portrait bust of

Ernest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in the years 1922–19 ...

is now in the British Government's Art Collection. From 1980 until 1995, Bisset lived in Mexico but eventually returned to live in Glasgow.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bisset, Douglas Robertson 1908 births 2000 deaths 20th-century British sculptors 20th-century Scottish male artists Academics of the University of Brighton Academics of Leeds Arts University Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Artists from Glasgow People from Strichen Scottish male sculptors World War II artists