DOI article:
Taylor, Ernest Archibald: The paintings of W. S. MacGeorge, R.S.A.
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21214#0258
IV. S. MacGeorge, R.S.A.
To facilitate a closer touch with some outlying
sketching ground, the construction of a caravan was
undertaken some few years ago, and not a little
energy, mingled with plenty of amusement, went
towards its creation. If to the superstitious the use
made of the wheels of an old funeral hearse may
have been a not altogether auspicious omen, great
was the joy shown by the children as the caravan
approached their village, their wild gesticulatings
evidently betokening the expectation of a treat in
the shape of a circus or travelling menagerie, but
equally great was their disappointment when it
became known that the wild beasts imprisoned in
the gaunt structure were merely one or two very
humble and very human artists. But to hear
MacGeorge relate, in his own inimitable way, his
varied experiences, by no means always flattering
to himself, is enough to prove that he is something
more than an artist in paint; nor is he a man
wrapped up in the pride
of his life’s attainments;
I doubt if one would ever
know of them unless they
became known through
some medium other than
himself. To see him
feeding and inveigling some
stray kittens born perhaps in
the woods, or tending homely
comforts for wild, winged
things that haunt the little
garden of his studio, gives
one a closer insight into the
man and the artist than any
long arguings on paint and
painters. His life is simple
and his art is not complex.
Futurism, as an art and as
a word proclaimed for any-
thing a little out of the
common, has neither de-
pressed nor influenced his
outlook. Yet those who
delight in sombre brown and
grey sadnesses, or anaemic,
atmospheric, formless effu-
sions, will not care for the
sunny brightness of his
landscapes and incidental
figures.
Not that MacGeorge has
only of late years been
attracted to light and
the pictorial rendering of it,
or been influenced by the French impressionists’
theory and practice ; for long ago when the silver
greys of Whistler and the Glasgow School notified
the art world of their existence, the Galloway
painter was, as he is now, enwrapped in the study
of brilliance of colour, the work of Monticelli
perhaps being a source of influence in his own
work as it was in that of his two neighbours and
friends, the late William Mouncey and T. B.
Blacklock.
However, anything he may have gleaned from
other sources was only what could be adapted
and assimilated by and into his own personality,
and not like so many recognised influences that
produce nothing but weak, soulless reiterations.
MacGeorge, like many of his Keltic contem-
poraries, is well satisfied with the natural glories
of his own land, and his sojourn in Italy
two or three years ago was perhaps regarded by
252
To facilitate a closer touch with some outlying
sketching ground, the construction of a caravan was
undertaken some few years ago, and not a little
energy, mingled with plenty of amusement, went
towards its creation. If to the superstitious the use
made of the wheels of an old funeral hearse may
have been a not altogether auspicious omen, great
was the joy shown by the children as the caravan
approached their village, their wild gesticulatings
evidently betokening the expectation of a treat in
the shape of a circus or travelling menagerie, but
equally great was their disappointment when it
became known that the wild beasts imprisoned in
the gaunt structure were merely one or two very
humble and very human artists. But to hear
MacGeorge relate, in his own inimitable way, his
varied experiences, by no means always flattering
to himself, is enough to prove that he is something
more than an artist in paint; nor is he a man
wrapped up in the pride
of his life’s attainments;
I doubt if one would ever
know of them unless they
became known through
some medium other than
himself. To see him
feeding and inveigling some
stray kittens born perhaps in
the woods, or tending homely
comforts for wild, winged
things that haunt the little
garden of his studio, gives
one a closer insight into the
man and the artist than any
long arguings on paint and
painters. His life is simple
and his art is not complex.
Futurism, as an art and as
a word proclaimed for any-
thing a little out of the
common, has neither de-
pressed nor influenced his
outlook. Yet those who
delight in sombre brown and
grey sadnesses, or anaemic,
atmospheric, formless effu-
sions, will not care for the
sunny brightness of his
landscapes and incidental
figures.
Not that MacGeorge has
only of late years been
attracted to light and
the pictorial rendering of it,
or been influenced by the French impressionists’
theory and practice ; for long ago when the silver
greys of Whistler and the Glasgow School notified
the art world of their existence, the Galloway
painter was, as he is now, enwrapped in the study
of brilliance of colour, the work of Monticelli
perhaps being a source of influence in his own
work as it was in that of his two neighbours and
friends, the late William Mouncey and T. B.
Blacklock.
However, anything he may have gleaned from
other sources was only what could be adapted
and assimilated by and into his own personality,
and not like so many recognised influences that
produce nothing but weak, soulless reiterations.
MacGeorge, like many of his Keltic contem-
poraries, is well satisfied with the natural glories
of his own land, and his sojourn in Italy
two or three years ago was perhaps regarded by
252