Duncan MacGregor Whyte 1864-1953

Duncan MacGregor Whyte (1864-1953)

Born in Oban, Scotland, Duncan MacGregor Whyte studied art in Glasgow at an early age in life. He later left Scotland to study a broad under Van Havermaet at the State School in Antwerp, Belguim. Further studies led him to Paris to train under Delecuse, Caillot and Delance.

In the early 1900’s the artist built “The Studio” at Ceann na Creige in Balephuill on the Isle of Tiree, living there with his artist wife Mary Barnard. She too studied in Paris under Caillot and Delance and was a highly regarded artist in her own right.

By 1911 he was a well noted portrait artist, traveling to Canada that year working on commissions. He produced the painting “On Board SS Caledonia 1911” during his trans-Atlantic journey. Writing to his wife from Canada, he refers to paintings sold in Toronto in 1912, including two “little harvesting pictures”, possibly from one of these exhibitions:

In 1912 the artist exhibited the followings works at the 40^th Annual Exhibition of the Ontario Society of Artist using the Toronto address 79 Adelaide Street East; #194 From the Hebrides, #195 The Little Sand House and #196 The Hills of Morven. Later that same year, the Catalogue of the Department of Fine Arts list; #346 The Little Sand House $150, #347 At Centre Island (Toronto) $75 and #348 In the Hebrides (Scotland) $60. Besides the exhibited painting At Centre Island, the artist also painted the Horseshoe Falls and Terrapin Rock of Niagara in Canada.

While in Vancouver, his four brothers who resided in Australia convinced him to visit. Whyte arrived in Sydney during the spring of 1913, leaving for St. George, Queensland in 1914, only to return to Sydney in September 1916. In November that year he moved to Perth. While there he became involved with the West Australian Society of Arts, acting as President from 1920 to 1921. Whyte also completed several commissioned portraits, the most notable being that of Captain H. V. Throssell, Australia’s first Victoria Cross winner in the Great War of 1914-1918. In 1920, he painted Dr. Riley, the Archbishop of Perth, which now hangs in the Perth Art Gallery. Along with these portraits, Whyte produced many wonderful beach scenes, landscapes and paintings of everyday life that are highly prized by Australians today.

In 1922 despite his stay in Australia, Whyte exhibited a group of paintings at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto, Canada. The Studio, Oban, Scotland was the address provide in 1922 for exhibiting at the CNE ( Canadian National Exhibition ) Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture by British, Spanish and Canadian Artists and International Graphic Art Artist #319 1922 Digging Potatoes $75. Also, auction results list paintings using CNE 1922 labels for The Crofters ?????? $75, The Crofters’ Harvest $75 / 65 Braemore Gardens ( Toronto address ), A Herbredian Harvest $75 / 65 Braemore Gardens.

Arriving back in Scotland in 1923, Duncan MacGregor Whyte was well known for his portraits and seascapes, as well as capturing daily life about the Isle of Tiree. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of Artists, Paris Salon, and the Royal Glasgow Institute. His painting “The Last Rays of Day” won the James Torrance Memorial Prize in 1947 at the Royal Glasgow Institute. He died in Scotland, in his 86th year on December 3rd 1953.