Iain Macnab of Barachastlain (21 October 1890 – 24 December 1967) was a Scottish

wood-engraver Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and ...

and

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

. As a prominent teacher he was influential in the development of the British school of wood-engraving. His pictures are noted for clarity of form and composition. His concepts of the sense of motion which could be created by the shape of repetitive parallel lines were of profound influence, in particular in relation to the art of linocut – an art form which both he and

Claude Flight Walter Claude Flight (born London 16 February 1881 - died Donhead St Andrew 10 October 1955) also known as Claude Flight or W. Claude Flight was a British artist who pioneered and popularised the linoleum cut technique. He also painted, illustrated ...

pioneered at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art where with the teachers included

Cyril Power Cyril Edward Power (17 December 1872 – 25 May 1951) was an English artist best known for his linocut prints, long-standing artistic partnership with artist Sybil Andrews and for co-founding the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London in 1925. ...

and

Sybil Andrews Sybil Andrews (19 April 1898 – 21 December 1992) was an English-Canadian artist who specialised in printmaking and is best known for her modernist linocuts. Life in England Born in 1898 in Bury St Edmunds, Andrews was unable to go straight ...

. His work was shown in the British pavilion at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

of 1930.

Biography

Iain Macnab was born in

Iloilo Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

on 21 October 1890 to Scottish parents, the son of John Macnab of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. The family moved to Scotland when he was young. Macnab served in France in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

. He was severely wounded as a machine-gun officer, invalided out and spent two years in bed recovering from his wounds. He rejoined the military in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, despite his age, and became a

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

in the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF ...

. He was again wounded and invalided twice, in 1942 and 1945. He married the dancer Helen Wingrave. Macnab was educated at

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelle ...

in Edinburgh before studying at

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, an ...

and then at Heatherley’s in 1918. From 1919 to 1925 he was principal of Heatherley’s School of Art. In 1925 he became the founding principal of the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. Macnab was hereditary armourer and standard bearer to the Macnab of Macnab. Macnab died in London on 24 December 1967. His younger sister

Chica Macnab Ada Jane Macnab (1889–1980) known as Chica Macnab, and later as Ada Munro, was a Scottish artist notable as a wood-engraver and painter. Biography Macnab was born in the Philippines in the province of Iloilo where her Scottish parents were ba ...

was also an artist.

Published works

* Reprinted 1973, Norwood Editions, USA * Revised second edition 1940 * Reprinted 1947 * Wood-engravings by Iain Macnab *

Public collections

Works by Macnab are in the following public collections: *

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Kelvingrove Art Gallery Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

, Glasgow *

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London *

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University o ...

, Oxford *

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th V ...

, Cambridge *

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

* UK Government Art Collection *Government of Canada *Government of New Zealand

Arts organisations

Macnab was a member of the following arts organisations: * Royal Institute of Oil Painters, president (at his death in 1967) * Imperial Arts League, chairman * National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, fellow *

Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, w ...

, honorary auditor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macnab, Iain 1967 deaths 1890 births 20th-century British printmakers 20th-century Scottish painters 20th-century engravers Alumni of the Heatherley School of Fine Art British illustrators Modern painters People educated at Merchiston Castle School People from Iloilo Scottish engravers Scottish male painters Scottish wood engravers Sibling artists British Army personnel of World War I Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders officers Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers 20th-century Scottish male artists Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art

Biography

Published works

Public collections

Arts organisations

Further reading

References