William Brown Macdougall (16 December 1868 – 20 April 1936) was a Scottish artist, wood engraver, etcher and book illustrator.

Biography

Macdougall was born 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 ...

on 16 December 1868. He was married to Margaret Armour, the translator, poet and playwright. They collaborated with

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Woodblock printing in Japan, Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He ...

on many projects and were members of the prestigious

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

. The couple lived in the Uplands, Loughton, and then for many years at Debden Green,

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, home at the time of a noted artistic and scientific community, where a

Blue Plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

commemorating them was unveiled in 2012. Macdougall received his art education at the

Glasgow Academy The Glasgow Academy is a coeducational independent day school for pupils aged 3–18 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2016, it had the third-best Higher level exam results in Scotland. Founded in 1845, it is the oldest continuously fully independent ...

and at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

in Paris, also working in the studios of

Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

Jean-Paul Laurens Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style. Biography Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexand ...

and

Tony Robert-Fleury Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students. Biography He was born just outside Paris, and st ...

, and becoming a member of the ''Salon des Artistes Français''. He contributed to ''

The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by th ...

'', ''The Evergreen'', and ''The Savoy'' in the 1890s. His work tended to be somewhat sombre and was clearly influenced by Aubrey Beardsley and

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

. He provided a frontispiece portrait of

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

for Margaret's first book, and illustrations for her books of poetry as well as her translations from medieval German. He only illustrated for a very brief period between 1896 and 1898, but contributed greatly to this form of art – his decorative vignettes seen in "The Fall of the Nibelungs", "Isabella, or the Pot of Basil" and "The Blessed Damozel" owe much to

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

and Arts and Crafts Movement motifs. He died on 20 April 1936 in

. After William's death Margaret returned to Edinburgh, where she died in 1943.

Legacy

Macdougall also painted in oils and other mediums. His work was exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

and

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

in 1888, 1928 and 1929, at the

Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI) is an independent organisation in Glasgow, founded in 1861, which promotes contemporary art and artists in Scotland. The institute organizes the largest and most prestigious annual art exhibitio ...

in 1927,

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

Manchester City Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three c ...

and the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

. William’s sister Agnes donated 6 prints and a plaster bust of William done by Frank Mowbray Taubman while they were both students in Paris in the late 1890s to The

Kelvingrove 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 ...

in Glasgow. The British Museum has a collection of 21 prints by Macdougall and other works are held by galleries throughout the UK.

Illustrated books

*''The Home and Early Haunts of Robert Louis Stevenson'' Margaret Armour and William Brown Macdougall *''The Book of Ruth'' William Brown Macdougall (1896) *''Chronicles of Strathearn'' William Brown Macdougall (1896) *''Thames Sonnets and Semblances'' Margaret Armour, William Brown Macdougall (1897) *''The Fall of the Nibelungs'' Margaret Armour and William Brown Macdougall (1897) *''The Eerie Book'' Margaret Armour and William Brown Macdougall (1898) *''Isabella, or The Pot of Basil'' John Keats, William Brown Macdougall (1898) *''The Shadow of Love, and other poems ...'' Margaret Armour and William Brown Macdougall (1898) *''Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám'' Edward FitzGerald, William Brown Macdougall (1898) *''The Blessed Damozel'' Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Brown Macdougall and William Michael Rossetti (1898) *''Gudrun'' Margaret Armour and William Brown Macdougall (1928) *''The Fields of France'' Agnes Mary Francis Robinson and William Brown Macdougall (1905)
(see Internet Archive)

References

External links

Gallery of MacDougall paintings
at Art UK – Uncovering the Nation's Art Collection * (under 'MacDougall, William Brown') {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdougall, William Brown 1868 births 1936 deaths 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 20th-century Scottish painters Scottish illustrators Art Nouveau illustrators Art Nouveau painters Artists from Glasgow 19th-century Scottish male artists 20th-century Scottish male artists