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People
of the 20th Century
He was Keeper of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1930 to 1948, and Queen's Painter and Limner for Scotland until the time of his death. He would leave behind him a permanent memorial – not only hundreds of paintings but also his designs which helped create the St Rognvald Chapel in St Magnus Cathedral.Stanley Cursiter was born at 15 East Road, Kirkwall, in 1887 of a Kirkwall father and a Sanday mother. One of his most important tasks was that of painting a picture of the Queen at St Giles Cathedral shortly after her coronation – a picture that was to hang at Holyrood House. He was a freeman of Kirkwall and a Deputy Lieutenant of Orkney. Cursiter was the first secretary of the Royal Fine Arts Commission in Scotland and for some time secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy. His place as a great Scottish artist was unquestioned. Dr T.J. Honeyman, director of the Glasgow Art Gallery, said: “In his landscapes of the Orkney scene, he brings heart, mind and hand to bear on a motif which has become almost exclusive to himself. In the field of contemporary Scottish portraiture he is among the leaders.”Many of his paintings were sought after by private collectors and over the following 25 years, Orkney Islands Council would ensure that several were preserved for the county. |
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© The Orcadian Limited, Hell's Half Acre, Hatston, Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland |
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Dr
Stanley Cursiter, one of the greatest of modern Orcadians and an artist
of nationally-acclaimed achievement, died in Stromness, at the age of
88, on April 22, 1976.