Tag: Alexander Milligan Galt

Despite family poverty in Greenock where he was born in 1913, Alexander Galt was to enrol at the Glasgow School of Art in 1930 and it was here that he befriended David Donaldson, a contemporary who went on to become Queen’s Limner in Scotland and Head of the School of Art and who wrote that he was overawed by Galt’s draughtsmanship “…he could draw like an angel….and …could out Orpen Orpen”. Galt was often called “the human camera” by his teachers and on graduation he won the Torrance Award for life painting. His diploma work toured the art schools of Scotland as an example to other students.Befriended in the 1930’s by the sculptor Jacob Epstein, Galt saw his reputation rising and it was his painting ‘The Stable Boy’, purchased by the Caird Museum bequest in Greenock that drew the attention of the critic James Agate whose patronage proved invaluable to the career of the young painter. The award of the Carnegie Scholarship in 1938 enabled Galt to travel to Paris. Forced to return to Scotland with the onset of war he taught at Greenock high school before being called up for service in the RAF. Returning to civilian life in 1945 he took a job as part time tutor at Glasgow School of Art before being appointed as art master to Greenock high school. Elected to the Royal Glasgow Institute, Galt was active until his death in 2000, winning his last prize at the RGI at the age of 81.