William Alexander Cuthbertson (1882-1968)

William (Willy) Alexander Cuthbertson (1882-1968).  Edinburgh born painter of portraits and genre who in about 1909 moved to Glasgow and eventually to Croydon in Surrey. He exhibited at the RA , RSA and GI. Cuthbertson was the eldest of the three children of William Cuthbertson and his wife Elizabeth Thomson Cuthbertson. The 1901 Census records Cuthbertson as an 18 year old Art Student (Painter). He spent 1901 studying at l’Academie Julian in Paris. The following year, 1902, he was appointed Ship’s Artist aboard the research vessel S.Y. ‘Scotia’ under command of Britain’s most experienced polar explorer William Speirs Bruce (1867-1921). On his return to Scotland in July 1904, Cuthbertson joined the Life School where he won various awards including a 1909 Carnegie Travel Scholarship which allowed him to visit and paint in Spain. Here he met Katie Grace Price (1892-1984)  whom he subsequently married and the couple settled in England. Cuthbertson served with the Royal Navy during the First World War and following his demobilization in 1919 he purchased a motor launch he commanded during his active service. Moored at Heybridge Basin in Essex, this became the Cuthbertson’s home until his death in 1966. The boat was crammed with his paintings, as Cuthbertson continued to paint but exhibited his work less frequently in later years. RSA blog.