James MacGillivray, 1856-1938

James Pittendrigh MacGillivray was born in the Aberdeenshire village of Port Elphinstone son of a sculptor. He learned sculpture in Edinburgh and Glasgow under William Brodie and John Mossman. He was a well-known and accomplished sculptor, poet, painter, printmaker, and photographer. During the 1870s, he met the Glasgow Boys, a group of young painters who influenced MacGillivray to take up painting and become a member of the Glasgow Art Club for over fifty years. He married painter Frieda Röhl in 1886. Throughout his career, MacGillivray primarily worked as a bronze sculptor. In 1895, he provided illustrations to the Spring and Autumn volumes of The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal, published in Edinburgh by Patrick Geddes and Colleagues. In the late 1890s, he joined the Scottish Arts Society. In 1901, he was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy and designed the Academicians' robes. In 1921, he was named King's Sculptor in the Ordinary for Scotland. He was instrumental in the growth of arts education in Scotland, having been involved in the founding of Edinburgh College of Art. After the deaths of his wife in 1910 and his daughter in 1917, he shifted his emphasis to poetry and photography. MacGillivray was an outspoken nationalist who supported Home Rule.