Littlejohn's work, principally in watercolour and collage, contains creative ambiguities of location or time, permitting seagulls in the kitchen or crockery on a harbour wall. His subject-matter reflects his background and his home surroundings in the fishing town of Arbroath. He also been influenced by Japanese culture; many of his recent works include Japanese plates, lanterns, origami birds and fishes, ribbons and finely textured detail. 

William Littlejohn RSA RSW RGI, born 1929

Littlejohn was born in Arbroath and studied at Gray’s School of Art. Thanks to a Royal Scottish Academy travel bursary, he was able to visit Japan, where he absorbed a style that fascinated him from the early stages of his career, applying the flattened spaces seen to rougher coastal Scottish subject matter. He has been widely exhibited in Scotland, becoming an academician in 1973. He combined his exploratory practice with duties as lecturer at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, and finally as Head of Fine Art until his retirement in 1991.