The Leaning Tree

A widely talented artist, he worked as an oil painter and watercolourist, etcher, and designer of furniture, interiors and stained glass. His early watercolours are delicate and original in design, but between 1900 and 1910 he produced watercolours in which there is a successful balance between naturalism and stylisation. During these years he often painted on Arran and also worked for the Glasgow cabinetmakers Wylie and Lochhead.   In 1908 he married Jessie King and moved to Manchester to manage and design for George Wragge Ltd and he produced many designs for stained glass. Between 1911 and 1914 the Taylor’s lived in Paris where they established an art school – the Shealing Atelier. The influence of modern French art and the Ballets Russes can be seen on Taylor’s art; his style broadened and he made more use of dramatic outlines. On their return to Scotland on the outbreak of war, they settled in Kirkcudbright where S J Peploe stayed with them many times and they established a summer school at High Corrie on the Isle of Arran. Taylor’s work, like that of his wife, became more powerful and dramatic, closer in style to the Colourists.   His oils, painted in broad brushstrokes, depict the rugged landscape of the Western Highlands, often with a white croft set against a dark rock face.