SMM+S

jimmcginlay

The following are some rough notes based on a booklet published by Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums in 1988, author Jennifer Melville. I thought its better than nothing as there is very little information to be found on MacGillivray at the moment on the internet.

James Pittendrigh MacGillivray was one of Scotland’s foremost sculptors of the late 19th and early 20th century. Born the son of a stone mason on 13th May 1856 in Port Elphinstone (now part of Inverurie) he established himself as artist, poet and playwright, painter and photographer and became a dominant figure in the Edinburgh art establishment and the Royal Scottish Academy. He was as well known for his forthright views which repeatedly led to disputes with patrons and lost him many commissions, and his political and nationalist views which set him at odds with the establishment. He worked hard to deservedly earn the nickname ‘MacDevilry’.

After the family moved to Edinburgh in 1868 he was apprenticed to one of the foremost sculptors of the period, William Brodie R.S.A.. MacGillivray had a precocious talent and at the age of sixteen his portrait medallion of William Greig was exhibited at the R.S.A.’s summer exhibition of 1872. He moved to Glasgow four years later and executed various commissions for architects including the statues of David Livingston and Thomas Campbell which stand in the city’s George Square, and the neo-Greek decorative sculpture for the Scotia Theatre (later Metropole). It was while in Glasgow that he befriended the group of artists which became known as the ‘Glasgow Boys’ and began to paint. In 1886 he married Frieda Rohl, a widow from Konigsberg who was also a painter and in 1887 and 1892 the couples two daughters Ina and Ehrna were born.

It was also in Glasgow that MacGillivray first developed his anti-establishment credentials as he began writing poems against the R.S.A. which was perceived to have a strong biased towards Edinburgh artists. He was the first president of the Glasgow Art Club which was set up in direct competition to the R.S.A.. In 1891 however George Reid was elected president of the R.S.A., an event which broke the Edinburgh stranglehold on the institution and in the following year MacGillivray was elected and Associate of the R.S.A. and returned to the capital, building a large home and studio in Edinburgh’s Ravelston Hill.

In 1894 he was commissioned to execute Irvine’s memorial to Robert Burns, unveiled 1896. In 1902 he was elected full Academician
In 1904 MacGillivray began by far his largest commission, the Gladstone Memorial in Edinburgh. The monumental work featuring the nine foot figure of Gladstone surrounded by various groups of allegorical figures was finally completed in 1913, although due to delays following the outbreak of war it was not unveiled until 1917.
Below Irvine's Burns memorial:

In 1909 MacGillivray received an honorary doctorate from Aberdeen University and in the years immediately before 1914 he was also commissioned to execute the memorial to Lord Byron in Aberdeen. There followed however a long wrangle between MacGillivray and the Aberdeen memorial committee over money and Aberdeen’s understandable request that the sculpture be executed in granite, which he resisted in favour of bronze and this did nothing for the artists reputation. Eventually the work was completed by another artist, Alex Leslie, working from MacGillivray’s original maquette for the sculpture. MacGillivay’s reputation was sealed and it would have been his last major commission, had he actually finished it.

During the years of the Great War MacGillivray produced a number of widely acclaimed studio works including ‘La Flandre’ and ‘The Wife of Flanders’, both busts of allegorical figures portraying the war torn land. There was also MacGillivray’s ‘Pieta’, a figurative group of the Virgin and Christ which is also the image of a mother and dead soldier. The work was probably intended as a war memorial and deserved to be realised as such but never was.

In 1910 his wife Frieda Rohl died and in 1917 their eldest daughter and playwright Ina died suddenly resulting in MacGillivray becoming an increasingly isolated and lonely figure. In 1921 he was appointed Sculptor in Ordinary to His Majesty for Scotland but large commissions no longer came his way and he increasingly turned to photography and the publishing of his own poetry and zincograph prints in an attempt to resolve his financial problems. In the following year he was nominated for the Rectorship of Edinburgh University as the Nationalist Candidate but failed.

MacGillivray died on 2nd May 1938.

MacGillivray memorial - Glasgow Cemetery:

Synopsis

Born 13th May 1856 in Port Elphinstone (now part of Inverurie)

1868 Family moved to Edinburgh. Later became apprenticed to William Brodie R.S.A. (1815-1881) one of Scotland’s foremost sculptors of the period.

1872 At the age of 16 MacGillivray had a portrait medallion of William Greig exhibited at the R.S.A. Exhibition.

1876 Moved to Glasgow. Statues of David Livingston and Thomas Campbell for city’s George Square. Also executed neo-Greek style decorative sculptures for the Scotia Theatre (later Metropole).

1877 Oil on canvas ‘William Alexander’.

1880 Watercolour ‘Still Life with a Japanese Fan’

1881 Bronze medallions of ‘W.Y. MacGregor’ and ‘Joseph Crawhall’

1882 Oil on canvas ‘Children in an East Coast Close’

1886 Married Frieda Rohl

1887 oil on canvas ‘Rhododendrons’. Daughter Ina born
1887 Stewart Memorial Panel, Glasgow Necropolis (Below)

1891 Bronze head of artist ‘George Henry’

1892 Elected A.R.S.A.. Moves to Edinburgh, second daughter Ehrna born.

1893 Bronze head of ‘The Right Reverend Monsignor Munro’. Bronze medallion of George Napier.

1894 Bronze busts and plaster maquette of ‘Sir George Reid PRSA’. Zincograph ‘The Yellow Rose’ and ‘Dawn’. Pen and ink wash ‘La Dame aux Camelias’

1895 Robert Burns memorial, Irvine. Bronze bust of ‘Ein Elfchen’. Bronze bust of ‘William Alexander’ Nellfield Cemetery, Aberdeen. Zincograph ‘Autumn Wind’, ‘The moon (or Luna)’ and ‘Der Zeitgeist’..

1896 Bronze head of ‘The Gypsie Queen’ and ‘Bust of an Unknown Woman’.

1897 Marble bas relief set in walnut of ‘Hannah’. Bronze head ‘Ianthe’. Bronze plaque ‘Paolo and Francesca’

1900 Bronze head ‘Hypnos’ and ‘head of an Unknown Man’.

1902 Elected R.S.A.

1904 Begins work on Gladstone memorial, Edinburgh.

1908 Bronze plaque ‘Hpinna Thaia’. Bronze bust ‘Atlanta’.

1909 Receives Honorary Doctorate, University of Aberdeen.

1910 Bronze figure ‘An Oread’

1913 Completes work on Gladstone memorial, Edinburgh. Bronze bust ‘Ehrna’.

1914 Bronze bust ‘La Flandre’. Bronze ‘Pieta’. Plaster maquette ‘Harvesting the Sea’.

1915 Bronze ‘Ariadne of Naxos’. Bronze bust ‘The wife of Flanders’. Bronze bust of ‘Douglas Strachan’. Book of poetry ‘Pro Patria’. Zincographs of ‘Edina’ and ‘Guardian Angel’. Pencil and charcoal ‘City Builders’.

1916 Bronze plaque of ‘Francesco Petrarch’.

1919 Bronze ‘A Kid of the Goats’. Zincograph ‘Summer’.

1920 Bonze ‘William Skeoch Cumming’.

1921 Appointed Sculptor in Ordinary to His Majesty for Scotland

1922 Book of poetry ‘Bog Myrtle and Peat Reek’. Stands for Rectorship of Edinburgh University as Nationalist Candidate.

1926 Zincograph of ‘Death and Doctor Hornbrook’. Zincograph ‘Winter’, ‘The Chalice Bearer’and ‘Die Lorelei’.

1929 Bronze plaque ‘Head of an Unknown Woman’.

1938 Died 2nd May

Undated Works:
Allan Memorial, Glasgow Necropolis:

Below - MacGillivrays Acanthus leaf stamp:

Bibliography
Melville,J, James Pittendrigh MacGillivray,Waverley Press;Aberdeen,1988.