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The life of Scottish watercolourist William Alister Macdonald (1861-1956) contained more mystery and intrigue than a novel by the authors he knew as friends. Mid-life in the early 1900s he painted
widely across Britain, Europe and North Africa.
Aged sixty, abandoning his wife and son in London, he settled in Tahiti, where he befriended authors
Charles Nordhoff, James Norman Hall and Zane Grey. 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 with appreciation of his timeless,
exquisite landscapes and studies of paradise.
This first fully illustrated biography of Macdonald’s life provides a long-overdue opportunity for his
European and Polynesian work to be reappraised and his story told.
Dr Iain Macdonald is Associate Professor in the Department of Design Innovation, Maynooth
University, Ireland. Born in Edinburgh and graduating from Edinburgh College of Art, 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.
His research and publications cover motion graphics, co-design and public health communication.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archive, Nucleus: The Nuclear And Caithness Archive, Wick, KW1 4QS, United Kingdom,Wick, Highland, United Kingdom
