DOI issue:
No. 56 (October, 1901)
DOI article:D'Anvers, N.: Robert Weir Allan and his work
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22775#0326
R. IV. A llan
Robert weir allan and
HIS WORK. BY MRS. ARTHUR
BELL (N. D’ANVERS).
Robert Weir Allan, whose strong and emi-
nently individual seascape and landscape work has
done as much, perhaps, as that of any other artist to
make known the rugged scenery of Scotland, was
brought up in a quiet and refined home amongst
thoroughly artistic surroundings. His father was a
well-known lithographer and publisher, one of the
first to turn to practical account the newly-
discovered art of chromo-lithography. He was,
moreover, noted amongst his friends for his love
of art, and he owned a considerable number of
pictures. From his boyhood, therefore, young
Allan must have been
familiar with art, and he
himself says that one of
his earliest recollections is
being carried by his nurse
into the room where the
paintings were hung, at
which he was never weary
of looking. When I
asked him what made him
choose to be a painter,
he replied, “ Oh, I was
brought up in the midst
of painting. My father
dabbled a little with
colours himself, and I
think I inherited my love
of art from him. I did
not spring up suddenly as
an artist, as so many men
do. I was originally
intended,” he added, “to
carry on the business,
and was educated as a
lithographer ; but I could
not be content with
merely mechanical work.”
So strong, indeed, was
Robert Allan’s love of
art, and so deep was his
sympathy with nature,
that his parents wisely
allowed him to follow his
bent, giving him every
possible facility in their
power. He had, therefore,
none of the hampering
anxieties about daily bread
XIV. No. 56.—October, 1901.
to contend with, which so sadden the spirits and
limit the range of many young geniuses; but, on
the other hand, it must be remembered that
Glasgow was not then the art centre it has since
become.
Robert Allan was not, as is so often taken for
granted, a member of the Glasgow School of Art,
the truth being that he, with a few others like him,
merely paved the way for its foundation. He
really belongs to no individual school, his sym-
pathies being far too wide to be called in any sense
local. He worked for a couple of years in or near
Glasgow, and as early as 1873 he exhibited at the
Institute of that city his first important work, an
oil-painting called A Sunny Day at Sea. A little
later his picture, Waiting the Tide, was hung at the
ROBERT W. ALLAN, R.W.S.
229
Robert weir allan and
HIS WORK. BY MRS. ARTHUR
BELL (N. D’ANVERS).
Robert Weir Allan, whose strong and emi-
nently individual seascape and landscape work has
done as much, perhaps, as that of any other artist to
make known the rugged scenery of Scotland, was
brought up in a quiet and refined home amongst
thoroughly artistic surroundings. His father was a
well-known lithographer and publisher, one of the
first to turn to practical account the newly-
discovered art of chromo-lithography. He was,
moreover, noted amongst his friends for his love
of art, and he owned a considerable number of
pictures. From his boyhood, therefore, young
Allan must have been
familiar with art, and he
himself says that one of
his earliest recollections is
being carried by his nurse
into the room where the
paintings were hung, at
which he was never weary
of looking. When I
asked him what made him
choose to be a painter,
he replied, “ Oh, I was
brought up in the midst
of painting. My father
dabbled a little with
colours himself, and I
think I inherited my love
of art from him. I did
not spring up suddenly as
an artist, as so many men
do. I was originally
intended,” he added, “to
carry on the business,
and was educated as a
lithographer ; but I could
not be content with
merely mechanical work.”
So strong, indeed, was
Robert Allan’s love of
art, and so deep was his
sympathy with nature,
that his parents wisely
allowed him to follow his
bent, giving him every
possible facility in their
power. He had, therefore,
none of the hampering
anxieties about daily bread
XIV. No. 56.—October, 1901.
to contend with, which so sadden the spirits and
limit the range of many young geniuses; but, on
the other hand, it must be remembered that
Glasgow was not then the art centre it has since
become.
Robert Allan was not, as is so often taken for
granted, a member of the Glasgow School of Art,
the truth being that he, with a few others like him,
merely paved the way for its foundation. He
really belongs to no individual school, his sym-
pathies being far too wide to be called in any sense
local. He worked for a couple of years in or near
Glasgow, and as early as 1873 he exhibited at the
Institute of that city his first important work, an
oil-painting called A Sunny Day at Sea. A little
later his picture, Waiting the Tide, was hung at the
ROBERT W. ALLAN, R.W.S.
229