Ian MacInnes – Orkney’s Renaissance Man

By Neil Cooper, 05.10.2022

Installation view of 'Ian MacInnes Artist – Centenary Exhibition'. Courtesy of the Pier Arts Centre.

When Ian MacInnes was headmaster of Stromness Academy on Orkney, he introduced a ‘Friday activities afternoon’, whereby students would knock off their studies early in order to explore less academic pursuits such as sailing, introducing an element of play to start the weekend. 

This was a typical act of everyday rebellion by MacInnes, whose work is currently on show on home turf at Pier Arts Centre to commemorate the centenary of the Orkney-born artist’s birth. The exhibition spans MacInnes’ life’s work, from formal portraits of friends and contemporaries such as writer George Mackay Brown, to more politically driven impressionistic images of life on his doorstep, with striking studies of the ever changing local landscapes in Stromness, the West Shore and Rackwick Valley in between.

Also on show are some of MacInnes’ early satirical caricatures of local dignitaries that appeared in the Orkney Herald when he was still a teenager, as well as his illustrations for books by Mackay Brown and other publications. Many of these works have been drawn from private collections and have rarely been seen in public.

Together, all this showcases a fully rounded portrait of MacInnes, a life-long Socialist who was at the epicentre of Orkney’s post World War Two cultural and political life. This wasn’t just as a painter, but as a teacher, trade unionist, activist and politician. Along with Mackay Brown and others, MacInnes was part of a lively artistic and social scene that paved the way for a cultural renaissance that led to the thriving networks that exist today around the likes of the Pier Arts Centre and St. Magnus Festival.

“We tried to be as comprehensive as we can be,” says Pier Arts Centre curator Andrew Parkinson. “We sought out some things right from the early days of Ian’s artistic career, with the caricatures going back to the late 1930s, when he was making regular contributions to the Orkney Herald. Then there are some photographs from his time at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, where he started just before the war, and then went back to after his service. There’s not so much actual work from that time, but there are some photographs of murals and that kind of thing.”

Early paintings from MacInnes’ war years include a striking self-portrait from 1943, and one of a fellow serviceman. There is also a rarely seen study of an interior of a troopship he was stationed on. Beyond the early years, the exhibition marks MacInnes’ changing styles through the 1950s and 1960s, when other influences crept in. This is probably best exemplified by ‘Land of Oil’ (1971) and ‘After the Gale’ (1972), two paintings influenced by Dylan Thomas’ radio play, ‘Under Milk Wood’, a favourite of MacInnes and his arty set. The paintings capture the everyday chaos of Orkney life with a spirit of protest and community MacInnes co-helped foster.

“Things were pretty dire just after the war, as they were in most places,” says Parkinson, “but there was a real effort made by them all to organise concerts or to bring musicians here, and that eventually led to the St. Magnus Festival and the Pier Arts Centre, so there's a lot to be thankful for.”

“Some of Ian’s political concerns come through in those paintings, and there are clearly messages in there, but I think the bulk of his work possesses this general sense that art, in whatever form it takes, is a positive thing, culturally and socially. Ian believed in the power of art to enrich people's lives in the way it had enriched his own.”

'Ian MacInnes Artist – Centenary Exhibition' is showing at Pier Arts Centre, Stromness until 12 November