David McClure

Artist Biography

David McClure was a highly regarded and widely collected painter whose work is to be found in a great many private and public collections throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. His paintings are celebratory of both life and nature, often informed with a wide knowledge of the history of the visual arts, literature and music. His work covers still life, landscape, interiors and the nude. He drew superbly and was a sumptuous and adventurous colourist in a well-acknowledged Scottish tradition who reveled in the art and craft of picture making.

He was one of a group of superbly talented artists who graduated in the early 1950s from Edinburgh College of Art where his contemporaries included Elizabeth Blackadder, John Houston and David Michie. Edinburgh students of the time benefited from the exposure to the paintings or teaching of the major Edinburgh School painters including Anne Redpath, William Gillies, John Maxwell, William MacTaggart, and Robert Henderson Blyth. Through these more immediate influences McClure was also moved to explore in particular the work of the Post-Impressionists, Gauguin, Matisse, Chagall and Redon and find his own voice.

In his earlier career he spent significant periods working in Spain, Italy, Sicily and Norway and taught at Dundee College of Art from 1957-85 retiring as Head of Painting, a post he took over from his great friend and colleague Alberto Morrocco.

1926 Born in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, son of a Scottish furniture designer and a Welsh school teacher.

Educated at Queen’s Park School, Glasgow.

1943-44 Glasgow University

War Service as Bevin Boy in the coal mines of Scotland.

1947-49 Fine Art Degree Course then jointly run between Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art

combining Drawing and Painting with Art History.

1949-52 Edinburgh College of Art. Switched to Painting Diploma Course to paint full time.

1950 Married in Glasgow to Joyce Flanigan.

1951 Elected member of SSA.

1952-53 Travelling Scholarship to Spain and Italy.

1953-55 Taught part time at Edinburgh College of Art.

1955 Birth of first son Robin.

1955-57 Andrew Grant Fellowship. (Travelling and Painting in Scotland, Florence and Sicily with wife and son).

1957 Painted ceiling decorations and murals for the reconstructed King’s Room at Falkland Palace, Fife.

1957-83 Lecturer in Drawing and Painting, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art,

Dundee under Alberto Morrocco.

1958 Birth of daughter Paola.

1959 Birth of second son Kevin.

1963 Elected ARSA.

At the invitation of the Norwegian Cultural Department spent three months living and painting with his family in the outskirts of Oslo.

1965 Elected member of the RSW.

1967-69 President of the SSA.

1971 Elected full member of the RSA.

Painted mural for St. Andrew’s University.

1976 Monograph on John Maxwell published for Edinburgh University Press.

1983-85 Head of Painting, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee.

1985 Retired from teaching to paint full- time.

1988 Death of wife Joyce.

1990 Elected member of the RGI.

1998 Died in Dundee on his 72nd birthday.

Selected Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

1957 Circola di Cultura, Palermo, Sicily

1957 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1961 The Saltire Society, Edinburgh

1962 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1965 University of Birmingham

1967 Loomshop Gallery, Lower Largo, Fife

1969 The Scottish Gallery (Edinburgh Festival Exhibition)

1970 Bondgate Gallery, Alnwick

1975 Loomshop Gallery, Lower Largo, Fife

1977 Haddington House, Haddington

1978 Thackeray Gallery, London

1982 The Macaulay Gallery, Stenton (Edinburgh Festival Exhibition)

1983 Fairmaid’s House Perth

1984 Dunkeld Festival of Arts

1986 Thackeray Gallery, London

1988 Fine Art Society, Edinburgh and Glasgow (40 Years Retrospective)

1989 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1991 Thackeray Gallery London

1992 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1993 Thackeray Gallery, London

1994 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1996 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh (70th Birthday Exhibition)

Posthumous Solo Exhibitions

2000 Memorial Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2003 Oils and Works on Paper, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2012 David McClure, Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh

2014 The Art of Picture Making, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

2014 Island Aspects: Paintings and Drawings 1952-63, Cyril Gerber Fine Art, Glasgow

2015 Works from the Estate of David McClure, Panter and Hall, London

2015 Small Works on Paper, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

Selected Group Exhibitions

1952 Young European Painters, Edinburgh

1961 Contemporary Scottish Paintings- Toronto, Canada

1963 14 Scottish Painters, Arts Council Exhibition at Commonwealth Institute, London and Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow, 1964

1964 Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Dr Peter Davis, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art,

Edinburgh

1965 Contemporary Scottish Painters, Glynn Vivian Gallery, Swansea

1967 Younger Scottish Contemporaries, Scottish Television, Edinburgh

1975 Edinburgh Ten 30, Scottish Arts Council/Welsh Arts Council Exhibition at the Royal Cambrian Academy,

Conway (then to Llanelli and Cwmbran)

1991 Still Life in The Scottish Gallery and Sea and Shore, both The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1992 Scottish Artists & Spain and 150th Anniversary Exhibition, both The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1993 The Edinburgh School, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition

1994 Viva L’Italia, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

Regular exhibitor at annual exhibitions at RSA, RSW and RGI and at Summer and Christmas Exhibitions of The Scottish Gallery

Selected Bibliography

Casa Nostra, by Marziale, December 1956, p.56

David McClure Paintings at The Scottish Gallery, The Scotsman, 4.11.57

Young Artist’s Exhibition, The Glasgow Herald, 2.11.57

Childhood’s Visions Portrayed, The Glasgow Herald, 29.10.62

Child’s- Eye View, The Scotsman, 29.10.62

Dream World, Dundee Courier & Advertiser, 27.10.62

The Paintings of David McClure, The Evening News, 29.10.62

Studio, T Elder Dickson, February 1963.p 85

David McClure- Paintings, The Scottish Gallery exhibition catalogue, introduction by George Mackie, 1969

The Eye in the Wind- Scottish Painting since 1945, Edward Gage, Pub. Collins 1977 pp.43, 44, 46

Scottish Watercolour Painting, Jack Firth, Pub. The Ramsey Head Press, pp.27, 46, 71-72

A Defiance of Sorrow, The Observer Scotland, 4.6.89

Artist who delights in painting pleasurably, Edward Gage, The Scotsman, 6.6.89

It’s been a long hard road to Morrocco and McClure, W Gordon Smith, Observer Scotland4.6.89 (What a terrible headline!)

David McClure, The Scottish Gallery, William Ferguson, Times Educational Supplement, June 1989

Scottish Art 1460-2000, Duncan Macmillan, Pub. Mainstream, 1990,2000.pp.330, 369,394

David McClure- Recent Paintings, The Scottish Gallery exhibition catalogue, introduction by Peter Regent, 1992

Lasting Impressions, Edward Gage, The Scotsman, 19.10.92

Scottish Art in the 20th Century, Duncan Macmillan, Pub. Mainstream, 1994, pp.108, 109,113

David McClure- New Paintings, The Scottish Gallery exhibition catalogue, introduction by John Morrison, 1994

David McClure, The Scottish Gallery Exhibition, W. Gordon Smith, Scotland on Sunday, 20.11.94

Decorator with overall flair in his chosen school, Edward Gage, The Scotsman, 21.11.94 (Another awful, punning headline!)

Obituaries – The Scotsman, The Herald and The Dundee Courier, Feb. 1998

Scotland’s Art, Duncan Macmillan, Pub. City of Edinburgh Museums and Art Galleries 1999, p.99

David McClure, The Scottish Gallery Memorial Exhibition – catalogue with introduction by Robin McClure and Guy Peploe, 2000

The Art of Picture Making, The Scottish Gallery Exhibition catalogue with essay and picture notes by Robin McClure

Selected Collections

Aberdeen Art Gallery

Argyll Education Committee

University of Dundee

Dundee Art Gallery

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh City Art Centre

RSA Thorburn Ross Collection

University of St Andrews

Glasgow Art Gallery

Perth Art Gallery

Paisley Museum and Art Gallery

The Fleming - Wyfold Art Foundation

Shell Petroleum Company

Bank of Scotland

British Rail

BBC Scotland

Edinburgh Fund Managers

Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne

University of Birmingham

Works in numerous Private Collections including USA, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, France, Turkey, Norway, Ireland and throughout the United Kingdom.

On-Line

54 works in Public Collections available to view at Art UK.

https://artuk.org/discover/artists/mcclure-david-19261998

Selected Writings

1972 R. Henderson Blyth Memorial Exhibition, catalogue introduction, Aberdeen Art Gallery.

1976 John Maxwell – a monograph of the artist’s life and work published by Edinburgh University Press

1990 Alberto Morrocco – Paintings from the Artist’s Studio, catalogue introduction, The Scottish Gallery.

1996 Introduction to The Mackenzie Sisters by Alwyn Jones, Black Ace Press.