Sir William MacTaggart

PPRSA, RA, RSW Born: 1903
Place of Birth: Loanhead
Died: 1981

Born at Loanhead in 1903, Sir William MacTaggart is one of the best-loved and yet least well-understood of Scottish artists. Grandson of William McTaggart, he studied at ECA with Gillies, Crozier and Geissler. He was, first and foremost, a painter. Like so many of his contemporaries, MacTaggart travelled to France throughout his life. Famously, he declared that we were all "the children of Cézanne". However, if his work demonstrates any clear progression it is away from the analytical observation of the French master, and influenced by Munch and later by Rouault, MacTaggart moved towards an art altogether more personal and expressive.