Alexander Moffat

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

RSA (born 1943) known as Sandy Moffat, is a Scottish painter, author and teacher.

Biography

Moffat was born in

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

in 1943. He studied at

Edinburgh Art College 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 ...

, where he was taught by

William Gillies William Gillies may refer to: *William Gillies (Australian politician) (1868–1928), Premier of Queensland in 1925 *William Gillies (Scottish politician) (1865–1932), co-founder of the National Party of Scotland *William Gillies (sport shooter) ...

Robin Philipson Sir Robert (Robin) James Philipson Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, RSW (17 December 1916 – 26 May 1992) was an English-born painter who was influential within the Scottish art scene for over three decades. Life Phil ...

and James Cumming. He concentrated on portraiture, described as "Scottish realism", and was among the leading Scottish intellectuals of the 1960s. He was Head of Painting and Printmaking at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; ) 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, and design. These are all awa ...

, where he worked for 25 years until 2005 and is credited with helping to steer the resurgence of figurative painting at the School. Painters like the so called New Glasgow Boys of the late 1980s including Steven Campbell,

Peter Howson Peter Howson OBE (born 27 March 1958) is a Scottish painter. He was a British official war artist in 1993 during the Bosnian War. Early life Peter Howson was born in London of Scottish parents and moved with his family to Prestwick, Ayr ...

Adrian Wiszniewski Adrian Wiszniewski (born 1958) is a Scottish artist and one of the members of the New Glasgow Boys a group of artists who emerged from Glasgow School of Art and led the resurgence of Scottish figurative painting in the late 20th century. Other mem ...

and

Ken Currie Ken Currie (born 1960 in North Shields, North Tyneside, England) is a Scottish painter working out of Glasgow. His paintings have been described as dark and violent. Education & Works Currie grew up in Barrhead. He started studying at the Gla ...

, in addition to

Jenny Saville Jennifer Anne Saville (born 7 May 1970) is a contemporary English painter and an original member of the Young British Artists.Royal Academy of ArtsJenny Saville RA , Artist , Royal Academy of Arts accessdate: 29 August 2014 Saville works an ...

and Alison Watt, were among his students. In 2018 Moffat received an Honorary Doctorate from Glasgow School of Art in recognition of the contribution that he, along with

Sam Ainsley Sam Ainsley (born Samantha Ainsley, 1950) is a British artist and teacher, living and working in Glasgow, who was the founder and former head of the Master of Fine Art (MFA) programme at the Glasgow School of Art. Education Ainsley was born in ...

and David Harding, had made in nurturing and developing artists which enhanced Glasgow's reputation as a centre of creative practise''.'' Since 2010 Moffat has been the Honorary President of The Essential School of Painting in London, an independent artist-led art school dedicated to teaching painting at a high level co-founded by one of his former students and lecturers at GSA, Alison Harper and Andrew Wamae.

Collections

Examples of Moffat's work are held in the collections of the

National Galleries of Scotland The National Galleries of Scotland (, sometimes also known as National Galleries Scotland) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the Nation ...

, the Russell-Cotes art gallery, the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, Fife Council, the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, the Museum of the Isles, the Orkney Islands Council, the North Ayrshire Council, and the Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture.

Exhibitions

Scottish National Portrait Gallery National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...

* The Press Club, Warsaw * The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh * The Peacocks Visual Arts Gallery, Aberdeen

Books

* ''Arts of Independence'' (with Alan Riach), Luath Press, 2014 * ''Arts of Resistance'' (with Alan Riach), Luath Press, 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffat, Alexander 1943 births Scottish artists Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Dunfermline People associated with the Glasgow School of Art Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art

Biography

Collections

Exhibitions

Books

See also

References