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William Wilson (artist)

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For other people with similar names, seeWilliam Wilson.

William Wilson
NationalityScottish
Alma materEdinburgh College of Art
AwardsGuthrie Award,1934
William Wilson's maker's mark in Glasgow Cathedral (1960)

William Wilson(21 July 1905 – 1972) was a Scottish stained glass artist, printmaker and watercolour painter.[1]He was a member of theRoyal Scottish Academy.He was appointed an OBE.

Biography

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Wilson learned stained glass making in an apprenticeship with James Ballantyne,[2]and by studying underHerbert Hendrie.[3]In 1932 he was awarded a Carnegie Travelling Scholarship by theRoyal Scottish Academy,which he used to study atEdinburgh College of ArtunderAdam Bruce Thomsonand to travel in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In these travels he made pen and ink drawings of the Italian city ofVenice,[4]and the Spanish cities ofMadrid,Granada,Ronda,andToledo.[5]He studied printmaking under Adam Bruce Thomson.[2]In watercolour he belonged to the Edinburgh School.[2]He studied further at theRoyal College of Art,London, producing etchings and engravings of subjects such as 'Loch Scavaig, Skye' in the 1930s.[6]Some of his works have been on display at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.[7]He also competed in theart competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics.[8][9]

Wilson taught stained glass making at Edinburgh College of Art. He started his own studio in 1937, making stained glass windows forCanterbury Cathedraland a number of Scottish Churches.[2]He slowly became blind throughdiabetes.[3]As well as religious stained glass, he made secular pieces such as "The Irish Jig" which was originally fitted in his Edinburgh home.[10]

Works

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Wilson made the 'exceptional' windows at the Morningside North parish church, Edinburgh, now a community building.[3]An excellent detailed account of the windows he made for Greenbank Parish Church, Edinburgh is available.[11]In 1951 he completed the East window of St Andrew's church in Stamford Hill, as a replacement for the original which had been blown by a V1 during the blitz. [12] He made the East window forArdwellchurch,[13]and in 1953, the East windows for St Machar's Cathedral, Aberdeen which depict the Nativity, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and Christ surrounded by the Scottish saints,[14]and a window for Dunino church, Fife.[15]He made 16 windows between 1952 and 1961 forBrechin Cathedral,Angus, Scotland.[16]He is responsible for four windows in the chapel of theUniversity of St Andrews,though given his increasing blindness the final two may have been partly the work of his assistants.[17]

St Teresa's Dumfries.He made windows in 1958 in the newly completed St Teresa's Church,Dumfries,the window in the Baptistry showing Our Lord being baptised by St John the Baptist and the window outside the Baptistry depicting St Joseph as a carpenter at his workbench with the boy Jesus.[18]

Wilson's largest surviving set of windows is at Craigiebuckler church,Aberdeen.The windows form a single scheme covering theOld Testamentand theNew Testamentof the Bible.[19]One of his last windows is his 1965 stained glass image ofSt Columbain the Abbey Church,Iona.[20]

Permanent collections

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Some of Wilson's works are in the collection of theNational Galleries of Scotland.[21]His "Scottish Fishermen" is in Aberdeen Art Gallery.[22]

Honours and awards

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Wilson was a member of theRoyal Scottish Academy(RSA).[3]He was appointed an OBE.[19][23]

Reception

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TheUniversity of St Andrewsdescribes Wilson as "one of Scotland's great artists, a master of the arts of printmaking, painting and stained glass".[17]Bourne Fine Art note that "in all he did, his style was very distinctive".[2]

References

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  1. ^Royal Academy of Arts: William Wilson.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  2. ^abcdeBourne Fine Art: William Wilson Biography.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  3. ^abcdEric Liddell Centre: Stained Glass.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  4. ^Bourne Fine Art: William Wilson: Venice.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  5. ^Wilson's fine drawing of the Spanish city of Toledo.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  6. ^British Council: Visual Arts Collection: William Wilson.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  7. ^Wilson - Master PrinterRetrieved 16 September 2015]
  8. ^Gjerde, Arild; Jeroen Heijmans; Bill Mallon; Hilary Evans (June 2016)."William Wilson Bio, Stats, and Results".Olympics.Sports Reference. Archived fromthe originalon 18 April 2020.Retrieved26 February2017.
  9. ^"William Wilson".Olympedia.Retrieved22 August2020.
  10. ^National Galleries Scotland: "The Irish Jig".Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  11. ^Guide to the Stained Glass Windows in Greenbank Parish Church, EdinburghRetrieved 11 November 2015.
  12. ^Cherry, BridgetandPevsner, Nikolaus(2002).The Buildings of England– London 4: North.New Havenand London:Yale University Press.p.534.ISBN9780300096538.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^Ardwell Church: Church DetailsRetrieved 2 November 2012.
  14. ^"Guide to the Cathedral Church of St Machar".Retrieved24 February2017.
  15. ^Dunino church, Fife.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  16. ^Brechin Cathedral.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  17. ^abUniversity of St Andrews: The Stained Glass of William Wilson.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  18. ^"St Teresa's Church, Dumfries Church Architecture".stteresaschurch.23 January 2019.Retrieved23 January2019.
  19. ^abCraigiebuckler Church, Aberdeen..Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  20. ^Iona: Abbey Church.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  21. ^National Galleries Scotland: William Wilson.Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  22. ^Scran database: Scottish Fishermen, William Wilson.Scran ID: 000-000-478-599-C. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  23. ^London Gazette.8902, 31 December 1960.
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Further reading

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  • Guichard, Kenneth (1977).British Etchers 1850-1940,Robin Garton, London.
  • Moody, Rona H.(2006).Images of broken light: William Wilson (1905 - 1972),The Journal of Stained Glass Vol XXX pp 140 – 150, London,ISBN0-9540457-6-9
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