John McNairn, 1910-2009

McNairn was born in Hawick, Roxburghshire, the son of John McNairn, a newspaper publisher and amateur printer. From 1926 to 1930 he trained at Edinburgh College of Art under D.M. Sutherland and William Gillies. In the early 1930s he was deeply impressed by the work of Cézanne and Munch. The latter had taught for a while at the Académie Scandinave in Paris, and in 1933 McNairn went to study at that school, where he was greatly encouraged by his teacher, Othon Friesz, a close associate of the Fauves in the years around 1905. During the 1930s Matisse's paintings and Raoul Dufy's watercolours were further major stimuli to McNairn's art, as is seen in this oil of the Breton port of St Malo, with its high viewpoint, strong colouring and dramatic presentation. After war service in India, McNairn moved to Selkirk.