Sir William George Gillies RA (1898–1973); renowned Scottish landscape and still life painter. Often referred to simply as W. G. Gillies. Concentrated principally on landscapes and still lifes. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_George_Gillies) William George Gillies was born in Haddington, near Edinburgh. He trained at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) and later studied in Paris and Italy. In 1925 he was appointed to the staff of ECA and he remained there until his retirement as Principal in 1966. Through 40 uninterrupted years as a teacher, his influence on Scottish painting of the 20th-century was profound. (https://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/g/artist/sir-william-gillies/object/sir-william-george-gillies-1898-1973-artist-self-portrait-pg-2448) Art History is essentially focused upon the narrative of the development of art. It has little to do with aesthetic questions of which artists are “good” or “great” or “bad” or worse. The central figures in this narrative are those who have made the most profound impact upon this same narrative. Marcel Duchamp is today revered not because his works are so brilliant…they aren’t… but because of his influence on the subsequent developments of Conceptual Art. Recognizing this, we may also recognize that there are a good many artists who created works of lasting worth… truly beautiful paintings and sculpture and drawings… who have been largely forgotten to Art History. This may often have more to do with luck than anything else. How central to the study of Art History would Michelangelo have been had he lived in Hungary or the Ukraine? Would Duchamp, quite likely, now be nothing more than a footnote had Conceptual Art never become a major movement? Sir William George Gillies was surely one of those artists who has unjustly been forgotten… ignored by the narrative of Art History. Continued at http://painting-is-poetry.tumblr.com/post/151959534650/forgotten-masters-sir-william-george-gillies undefined

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