James Williamson Galloway Macdonald

About

Jock Macdonald, born in Thurso, Scotland, in 1897, was a pioneering Canadian artist known for his contributions to abstract and surrealist art. After serving in the army, he studied design at the Edinburgh College of Art, earning a design diploma and an art specialist teacher's certificate. In 1926, he immigrated to Canada to become head of design at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, where he became the first painter to exhibit abstract art in Vancouver. Initially focused on landscapes inspired by British Columbia's rugged scenery, his work evolved through spiritual connections to nature and experimentation with automatic techniques influenced by British surrealists Grace W. Pailthorpe and Ruben Mednikoff in the 1940s.

Abstract and surrealist, evolving from landscapes to automatic and industrial paint abstractions