Details

Name

James Pittendrigh Macgillivray

Brief Biography

1856–1938, British / Scottish

Description

Born at Inverurie, MacGillivray studied under William Brodie in Edinburgh, before moving to Glasgow to work with John Mossman on the sculptural adornment of the city’s buildings. He became the only sculptor member of the young group of progressive Glasgow artists known as the ‘Glasgow Boys’, which flourished from about 1885 until around 1905, and his work of this period is marked by its bravura. As a poet, he was well known, particularly for his diatribes against the academics, published in the periodicals of the ‘Boys’. In 1890 he helped with the setting up of Edinburgh College of Art. His work shows his skill in the manipulation of bronze. He executed many portrait busts and several public commissions, the most important of which was Gladstone memorial, of 1912, in Edinburgh, in which can be seen the influence of Alfred Stevens and of Art Nouveau. In 1921 he was appointed King’s Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland, a position which he held until his death. He was also a skilled painter and graphic artist.
He exhibited in the Royal Academy of Arts, London, from 1891, at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh from 1872 and at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Glasgow 1874. He was elected ARSA 1892, RSA 1901.