WILLIAM ALISTER MACDONALD: Watercolours from Thurso, the Thames, and Tahiti

Written and presented by his great-great nephew, this is the first biography of Scottish watercolourist William Alister Macdonald (1861-1956), regarded as a ‘Tahitian Turner’.Dr Iain Macdonald MCSD SFHEA FRSA Associate Professor of Design, Maynooth University

Tahiti has long been associated with artists and writers, but the later life of Scottish watercolourist William Alister Macdonald (1861-1956) has been something of mystery to those outside of French Polynesia. Previously in Europe, as the art world was convulsed in revolutionary new ways of expression, Macdonald maintained a steadfast approach to recording the landscapes and city streets where he lived and travelled in a meticulous ‘English style’.

After stepping off a ship in Tahiti en route to New Zealand, Macdonald began a new life at sixty, forging friendships with American writers Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall who had made their home there. As frontier artists they often travelled together to explore the islands, where Macdonald would paint and catch timeless landscapes and atmospherics. His approach followed Whistler and Turner, with a knowledge of sea and boats crafted when growing up on the remote coast of northern Scotland, then along the Thames after moving to London as a young bank clerk (any similarity with Gauguin ends there).

Critical acclaim of his work peaked in 1935 with the discovery of over 120 watercolours capturing London streets and lost panoramas from the Thames, its river life and trade at the turn of the last century, now part of the Wakefield Collection at London’s Guildhall. Yet in Tahiti his reputation has endured. This first biography of Macdonald’s life provides a long-overdue opportunity for his European and Polynesian work to be reappraised and his story told.

Author and Presenter

Dr Iain Macdonald is Associate Professor and Head of Department of Design Innovation, Maynooth University in Ireland. Born in Edinburgh and graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 1987, he began his career at BBC Television Centre as a motion graphic designer and was a Senior Designer nominated for a BAFTA before becoming a commercials director at the Moving Picture Company. Since 2010 he has been a Design academic, achieving a Doctorate while working at Edinburgh Napier University.   Photo credit Sophie Gerrard.