oil on canvas, signed
framed and under glass

Note: Former Head of Painting, Glasgow School of Art. Her Majesty's Painter and Limner in Scotland. Born 29 June 1916 in Chryston, Lanarkshire. Died 22 August 1996. David Donaldson was one of the most important and influential figures in Post War Scotland. Born in humble circumstances his career took him from the back streets of Coatbridge to a hugely successful life as a portrait painter and also earned a well deserved reputation as a painter of still life. He became the recipient of a multitude of Honours, including Honorary degrees from both Strathclyde and Glasgow University. He was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1962 and in 1977 was appointed the Queen's Limner in Scotland. At the time of his death he was Honorary Vice-President of the Glasgow School of Art, where he had been Head of the Painting Department from 1967 to 1981. His work is represented in distinguished collections world wide and he maintained studios in France and London as well as Glasgow. A complex character, very often pompous himself, he abhorred it in others, but possessing an outrageous sense of humour - he was ever ready to laugh at himself. His humour was very much in the Glasgow tradition and he was much sought after as a raconteur. His years spent as a student were very much in the academic tradition common to all Scottish Art Schools in the thirties, and, as his early work clearly shows, he was an exceptionally talented student. The influences of Rembrandt and Velasquez in particular remained with him all his life. Curiously, in later life he showed no interest in the wide-ranging formal discoveries of modern art. Cubism and abstraction meant little or nothing to him and he totally ignored contemporary trends or fashions in Art He was essentially only really concerned with his own art and spent his life developing his own singular vocabulary. Donaldson was a brilliant teacher. He believed that a young painter should learn from a good older painter and what he had to say was direct and to the point - he also all his life maintained that “painting about it” rather than “talking about it” was the correct equation. He was fond of his students and often referred to himself as their “guide, philosopher and friend”. He had not time for a drunken foul-mouthed Scottish Artist image - he liked to portray himself as an elegant cultured painter and tried to instil in many young artists, that an interest in literature, music etc. were integral parts in developing one’s career as a painter. His relationship with his staff was one of total vacillation - one day sweetness and light - the next raging and raving - those mood swings were very much to do with the business of being a painter and often indicated personal anxieties. For the most part however his staff respected him enormously and held him in great regard. David's idea of an Art School was one where rigorous study in the classical tradition would be combined with a civilised and bohemian life style - free from strictures of a puritanical outside world. He would make a monthly round of the studios with his staff in tow, inspecting the work of the students, occasionally attempting to put a stop to anything which smacked of the “avante-garde”.