William Crosbie RSA (1915–1999) was one of the most inventive, restless and independent figures in twentieth-century Scottish art. Painter, muralist, illustrator, designer and teacher, Crosbie refused to be confined by a single style or movement, instead building a body of work remarkable for its imagination, technical fluency and extraordinary breadth of subject matter. Throughout a career spanning more than six decades, he moved effortlessly between still life, portraiture, landscape, surrealism, religious painting and mural design, always driven by a belief that painting should remain alive, exploratory and in constant renewal. As he reflected in 1974: “Once you have mastered a technique or perfected a style, that’s the time to stop. Each piece of work should be a fresh beginning as far as possible.”
