William MacTaggart 1903-1981

William MacTaggart was a Scottish painter and member of the Edinburgh School. 

MacTaggart was born in May 1903, in Loanhead, Scotland. His grandfather was the artist William McTaggart (1835-1910), known for his paintings of Scottish landscapes and nautical scenes. MacTaggart attended the Edinburgh College of Art (1918-1921), where he met a number of artists who would later become the core group of the Edinburgh School, including William Gillies and Anne Redpath.

The artists of the Edinburgh School began working together soon after the end of the First World War. They often painted still lifes, using both oil and watercolour, tending to apply Modernist colouring and abstraction to their more traditional subject matter. Art critic Giles Sutherland characterised their work as 'virtuoso displays in the use of paint, vivid and often non-naturalistic colour and themes such as still life, seascape and landscape'. 

MacTaggart also produced landscape paintings, most commonly depicting areas of Scotland, France and Norway, from where his wife originated. MacTaggart took paintings trips to the south of France with fellow Edinburgh School artist, William Crozier. In 1927, MacTaggart joined the Society of Eight, a group formed to bring together artists based in Glasgow and Edinburgh, fellow members included Duncan Grant and John Nash.

During the 1930s, MacTaggart shared a studio with fellow Edinburgh School artist, William Gillies and he began teaching at Edinburgh College of Art. Later in his career, MacTaggart was elected an Academician with the Royal Scottish Academy, serving as their president for a decade after 1959. He was also elected a Member of the Royal Academy in London (1968) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

MacTaggart died in January 1981, leaving artworks that can be found in public collections throughout the UK, particularly in Scotland including the National Galleries of Scotland, University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh.