William McLaren (1923–1987) was a Scottish illustrator.

Life

Born in

Ferniegair Ferniegair is a village across the Avon Water from Hamilton, on the A72 road to Larkhall in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The village contains the entrance to Chatelherault Country Park and Hamilton Golf Club. The railway station was re-opened ...

, Hamilton, McLaren grew up in

Cardenden Cardenden () is a Scottish town located on the south bank of the River Ore in the parish of Auchterderran, Fife. It is approximately north-west of Kirkcaldy. Cardenden was named in 1848 by the Edinburgh and Northern Railway for its new railway ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

with a crippling handicap that affected his feet. He attended

Beath High School Beath High School is a non-denomational state secondary school in Cowdenbeath, Fife. The school is run by Fife Council and the current roll stands at around 1200 pupils aged from 11 to 18. It serves Cowdenbeath and Kelty and the villages of Cr ...

, Cowdenbeath, before going to college in Edinburgh. In 1944 he earned his Diploma and the Highly Commended Post Diploma 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 ...

. After graduation and with a bursary from the Andrew Grant Fund he left Scotland and visited

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Throughout his life he remained a

francophile A Francophile, also known as Gallophile, is a person who has a strong affinity towards any or all of the French language, French history, French culture and/or French people. That affinity may include France itself or its history, language, cuisin ...

and was fluent in French. He earned a living as a commercial illustrator working for ''

The Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'', '' The Listener'' and

The Sphere ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. He is noted for illustrating the popular

Beverley Nichols John Beverley Nichols (9 September 1898 – 15 September 1983) was an English writer, playwright and public speaker. He wrote more than 60 books and plays. Career Between his first book, the novel, ''Prelude'' (1920) and his last, a book of po ...

gardening books. He also painted

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s at

Wemyss Castle Wemyss Castle (pronounced eems is situated in Wemyss on the sea cliffs between the villages of East Wemyss and West Wemyss in Fife, Scotland. Wemyss Castle is considered to be a multi-period building, and today's castle includes many elements ...

, St Adrian's Church in West Wemyss,

Hopetoun House Hopetoun House is a country house near South Queensferry owned by the Hopetoun House Preservation Trust, a charity established in 1974 to preserve the house and grounds as a national monument, to protect and improve their amenities, and to pre ...

Hawthornden Castle Hawthornden Castle is located on the River North Esk in Midlothian, Scotland. The castle lies a mile to the east of Roslin at grid reference , and is just downstream from Roslin Castle. Hawthornden comprises a 15th-century ruin, with a 17th-c ...

and

Tyninghame House Tyninghame House is a mansion in East Lothian, Scotland. It is located by the mouth of the River Tyne, east of Tyninghame, and west of Dunbar. There was a manor at Tyninghame in 1094, and it was later a property of the Lauder of The Bass fami ...

Legacy

In 2009 a documentary film was made by Jim Hickey and

Robin Mitchell Robin Mitchell is a Scottish writer and producer. Career Mitchell co-founded Edinburgh's Cadies & Witchery Tours in 1984. The name 'Cadies' was taken from the 18th-century Edinburgh 'Caddies'. The Scottish actor Kevin McKidd worked at The Cadi ...

about McLaren's life and work entitled
William McLaren – An Artist Out of Time
. The film was shown at the 2010

Glasgow Film Festival The Glasgow Film Festival is an annual film festival based in Glasgow, Scotland. The festival began in 2005. By 2015, the festival had seen audience figures top 40,000 for two consecutive years. 2008 2008's festival took place between 14–24 Feb ...

as part of their 'Great Scots' strand before touring Scotland's regional cinemas. In July 2011 Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery hosted an exhibition called 'New Additions'. The exhibition included works by William McLaren,

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. ...

and Sir Joseph Noel Paton.

Notes

1923 births 1987 deaths Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art People from Cardenden Scottish artists Scottish muralists Scottish illustrators People educated at Beath High School {{Scotland-artist-stub