Art and Artists in East Lothian 1945-2000

John Busby ARSA RSW

The 'pastoral tradition' evoked a century ago by such eminent painters as William Mactaggart, Arthur Melville, Robert Noble, William Miller Frazer, W.D. McKay and others, remained in evidence amongst later painters, but the landscape was seen for its contemporary vitality and relevance without nostalgia for a past age. Sir William Gillies, 1898-1973, who was born in Haddington, painted the Lothian and Border landscape he loved with a distinctive vision that profoundly influenced painters in the second half of the twentieth century. Previously, easy access by railway had added to the popularity of East Linton and Dunbar as favoured locations for artists but no collective artistic 'school' as such developed; most artists then, as at the end of the period, worked as individuals.

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© 2004 Fourth Statistical Account of East Lothian Society