William MacTaggart

Reference:GB 2610 GMA A24
Dates of Creation:1920 - 1979
Physical Description:

Scope and Content
Sketchbooks, annotated books and photographs of MacTaggart's studio. The archive is divided into three sections:
/1. 8 sketchbooks with pencil, charcoal, watercolour and ink drawings mainly of landscapes; one inscribed '1928 - 1930'.
/2. Annotated books from the library of William MacTaggart.
/3. Slides of MacTaggart's studio.
Administrative / Biographical History
Born at Loanhead in 1903, William MacTaggart was the grandson of William McTaggart, the leading Scottish landscape painter of his period. MacTaggart studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1918 - 1921 with William Gillies, William Crozier and William Geissler. He returned to the College in 1933 to teach until 1958. MacTaggart was first and foremost a painter and like so many of his contemporaries travelled to France often accompanied by William Crozier (see GMA A77). He painted landscapes and still lifes and was much influenced by the work of Edvard Munch and French artists such as Georges Rouault, whose use of colour to express emotions particularly inspired him. MacTaggart was President of the Royal Scottish Academy from 1959 to 1964. In his later years MacTaggart turned to depictions of the sea. Many of his late works, dating from the mid 1960s, have an almost abstract quality, in which sea and sky merge together an intense, emotional response to the power of colour. He died in Edinburgh in 1981.
Access Information
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Archives and Special Collections are open Monday - Friday, 10.00 - 1.00 and 2.00 - 4.30 by appointment only. Please contact Modern2ReadingRoom@nationalgalleries.org to arrange a time to visit. As we are a small team, we request that you get in touch 1 – 2 weeks before you intend to visit so that we can check availability.
Conditions Governing Use
All material is subject to copyright restrictions. Requests to reproduce original material should be made to the National Galleries of Scotland’s Image Licensing team (https://www.nationalgalleries.org/copyright-image-licensing)
Custodial History
Presented by the estate of the artist, 1981
Related Material
The SNGMA Collection holds work by Gillies; see also GMA A23 William Gillies; GMA A46 1922 Group; GMA A77 William Crozier;