Alexander McNeish (1932-2000) was a Scottish artist. Alexander McNeish was born at

Bo'ness Borrowstounness, commonly known as Bo'ness ( ), is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically part of the county of West Lothian (historic), ...

, near

Linlithgow Linlithgow ( ; ; ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a historic route between Edi ...

on the Firth of Forth, Scotland, the son of a coal miner. He attended

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

from 1952 to 1957 studying under John Maxwell. In 1960 he exhibited with

Albert Irvin Albert Henry Thomas Irvin (21 August 1922 – 26 March 2015) was an English expressionist abstract artist. Life and career Irvin was born in Bermondsey, London on 21 August 1922. He was evacuated from there during World War II, to study at t ...

at Galerie Im Griechenbeisl. In 1963, 10 of his lino prints illustrated a

Gael Turnbull Gael Turnbull (7 April 1928 – 2 July 2004) was a Scottish poet who was an important figure in the British Poetry Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. Biography Turnbull was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Northern England and in Canada, where he ...

book of poetry called ''A Very Particular Hill'', a lino cut of his also illustrated a

William McGonagall William McGonagall (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) was a Scottish poet and public performer. He gained notoriety as an poetaster, extremely bad poet who exhibited no recognition of, or concern for, his peers' opinions of his work. He wrote ...

poem in the British periodical

Poor. Old. Tired. Horse. ''Poor. Old. Tired. Horse.'' (''POTH'') was a British periodical of visual poetry, running for 25 issues from 1962 to 1967. It was published by Wild Hawthorn Press, which was set up a year earlier in 1961 by Ian Hamilton Finlay. Although most as ...

He taught at Wolverhampton College of Art in 1962 and was head of painting at

Exeter College of Art and Design Exeter College of Art and Design was an art college based in Exeter, Devon. Founded in 1854, it amalgamated with what would become Plymouth University in 1989. The main building was located at Earl Richards Road North Exeter from the 1970s w ...

from 1965 to 1980. His work can be found in the collections of the

Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre, England. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupi ...

the

Royal Albert Memorial Museum Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) is a museum and art gallery in Exeter, Devon, the largest in the city. It holds significant and diverse collections in areas such as zoology, anthropology, fine art, local and foreign archaeolog ...

, Exeter, the

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

and the

City Art Centre The City Art Centre is part of the Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, which sits under the Culture directorate of the City of Edinburgh Council. The City Art Centre has a collection which include historic and modern Scottish painting and photograph ...

in Edinburgh. McNeish was one of a group of heavy drinking Scottish art teachers known as the "Scottish Mafia" or "Scotia Nostra".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNeish, Alexander 1932 births 2000 deaths People from Bo'ness 20th-century Scottish painters Abstract expressionist artists British abstract painters