Sculptor in bronze and stone. He was born in Wick, and trained at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen (1928–29), Edinburgh College of Art (1929–33) under Alexander Carrick, and the École des Beaux Arts, Paris (1934), as well as spending short study periods in Egypt, Germany, Greece and Italy (1934–35). He executed several statues of famous Scots for the Empire Exhibition, Glasgow, 1938, but is best remembered for a series of major figurative war memorials, including the Black Watch Memorial in Dundee (1959), the Seaforth Highlander Memorial in Vancouver, Canada (n.d.) and, most notably, the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge near Fort William (1952). He taught at Dundee College of Art from 1947, lived in Tayport, and exhibited regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy.
Sources: Johnston, W.T., Dictionary of Scottish Artists (c.2000), Scottish National Library, ref CD-ROM.585; McEwan, P.J.M., The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture, Ballater, Aberdeenshire, 2004.
Ray McKenzie 2018