Flowers in a Vase

Born in 1903 in Loanhead, Mid Lothian, William was the Grandson of painter William McTaggart. As a student at the Edinburgh College of art William Crozier and his interest in France and Italy influenced the young MacTaggart. On graduating MacTaggart visited Paris to study and on his return set up a studio with Crozier and Gillies. He became a founder member of the 1922 Group and held his first one-man show in Cannes, France in 1924. In 1927 he joined the group of artists known as the Society of Eight and two years later was to hold his first one-man show in Edinburgh.   He was greatly impressed by the Munich exhibition, which was organised by the SSA in Edinburgh in 1931, and this added to hid developing Expressionistic style. In 1937 he married Fanny Aavatsmark, a Norwegian and organiser of the Munich exhibitions. After the Second World War he painted in France and his later still lifes, flower paintings and land and seascapes have rich, glowing colours set against dark backgrounds. He died in Edinburgh.