William Stewart MacGeorge (1861-1931)

William Stewart MacGeorge (1861–1931) was a Scottish artist associated with the Kirkcudbright School. Born in Castle Douglas, lived at 120 King St. He attended the Royal Institution Art School in Edinburgh before studying under Charles Verlat in Antwerp 1884-85. On his return he painted subjects which involved children playing, executed in low tones. After becoming influenced by Edward Atkinson Hornel, who had also studied under Verlat, MacGeorge began using brighter colours and greater impasto. He continued to focus on the usual pastoral features so loved by Impressionists - children at play, fields of flowers, woods, rivers with fishermen, farm labourers, the effect of light and some evening scenes. MacGeorge was also inspired by the ballards of the Borders. Around 1912 he also spent some time painting in Venice. In 1929, two years before his death, MacGeorge married the widow of Hugh Munro, the watercolour artist Mabel Victoria MacGeorge and settling in Gifford in East Lothian where he died aged 70. His widow bequeathed about 45 of his paintings to Haddington Town Council.
MacGeorge exhibited at the Paris Salons, winning a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition Universalle of 1900. He became a member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1898 and an academician in 1910. He exhibited at the RSA (1881-1932), RGI (1883-1932) and RA (1894-1925).