Dugald Sutherland MacColl (10 March 1859 – 21 December 1948) was a Scottish

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

painter, art critic, lecturer and writer. He was keeper of the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

for five years.

Life

MacColl was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and educated at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

between 1876 and 1884. He also studied at the

Westminster School of Art The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. History The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum. H. M. Bateman described ...

and the

Slade School The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

under Alphonse Legros between 1884 and 1892. Although an accomplished watercolourist, he is best remembered as a writer and lecturer on art. From 1890 to 1895 he was art critic for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'', and for the '' Saturday Review'' from 1896 to 1906. MacColl became a member of the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

in 1896, and edited the ''

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism ...

'' from 1901 to 1905. He published the authoritative book, ''Nineteenth Century Art'', in 190

and his biography ''Philip Wilson Steer'' was awarded the 1945

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

. In his journalism and books he was a major advocate of the French

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

, and was influential in spreading their ideas and shaping public attitudes in Britain towards favouring Impressionism. From 1906 to 1911 he was keeper of the Tate Gallery and, after the retirement of Sir

Claude Phillips Sir Claude Phillips (29 January 1846 – 9 August 1924) was a British writer, art historian and critic for ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''Manchester Guardian'' and other publications during the late 19th century. He was the first keeper of the Wa ...

, the

Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wallace, who built the extensive collection, along ...

from 1911 to 1924. Dugald Sutherland MacColl died in 1948 in London. A Memorial Exhibition of his work was held at the Tate Gallery in 1950. His son was René MacColl, a cricketer and journalist.

Campaigns

During his career, MacColl campaigned for a number of artistically controversial causes. In 1903, in the ''Saturday Review'', he argued that the administrators of the estate of

Sir Francis Chantrey Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

, who had left the Chantrey Bequest to the Royal Academy to fund the purchase of artworks for the nation, were departing from the terms and buying mediocre works. After his subsequent book in 1904, ''Administration of the Chantrey Bequest'', a government committee initiated reforms. He also campaigned for the government to spend more on art, resulting in the founding in 1903 of the National Art Collections Fund. In the 1920s he campaigned, unsuccessfully, for the preservation of John Rennie's

Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge () is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges. Its name commemorates the victory of the British, Dutch and Prussians at t ...

Herbert Morrison Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was a British politician who held a variety of senior positions in the UK Cabinet as member of the Labour Party. During the inter-war period, he was Minis ...

and

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

were eventually successful in their advocacy for its demolition and replacement. Other causes included his opposition, as a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission, to the 1925 proposal to build a sacristy under the north wall of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

. He was also a central figure in discussions of "Gothic" additions to Oxford colleges, and in efforts to preserve the Foundling Hospital.

Selected publications

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Notes

References

External links

Biography at the Tate Gallery

National Portrait Gallery
Biography and works held in the NPG collection, retrieved 2 September 2006 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maccoll, Dugald Sutherland 1859 births 1948 deaths 19th-century Scottish painters 20th-century Scottish painters Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Alumni of University College London Alumni of the Westminster School of Art Artists from Glasgow British Impressionist painters James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients People associated with the Tate galleries Scottish art critics Scottish curators Scottish male painters Scottish watercolourists 19th-century Scottish male artists 20th-century Scottish male artists