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Member of the radical Edinburgh Group of artists, member, treasurer and later secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy, President of the Scottish Arts club, Alick Sturrock was a leading figure in twentieth century Scottish art. In 1926 Sturrock purchased numbers 6 and 8 Hannay Street, Boatgreen from the estate of Gatehouse blacksmith Alexander Campbell and he and Mary settled in the town. Works such as Girthon landscape, Landscape at Little Boreland and Cally Mote were exhibited at the RSA. Not only did the Sturrocks paint, she concentrating on flowers in a similar manner to her friends Charles Rennie MacIntosh and Jessie M King and he developing his own particular way of interpreting the landscape, but they also became actively involved in local life. Alick was a member of Anwoth curling club, and appears in their centenary photograph and it was while he was captain of the golf club that the Cally cup was introduced. Each year the Sturrocks presented an annual prize at the school for a painting of a flower and some of the winners still live locally. Like many artists of the time Alick Sturrock was also a keen fisherman. |
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It was while the Sturrocks were living at Boatgreen that Dorothy L Sayers came to spend a number of holidays at the Anwoth Hotel. She did not need to look far for one of the artists featured in The Five Red Herrings. Alick Sturrock also painted some of the local scenes she described such as The Clints of Dromore and The granite crusher, Kirkmabreck. His large Felling Timber at Cally captures the time that James Jones of Larbert had the contract to fell the woods following their sale to the Forestry Commission.
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In 1933 The Sturrocks sold the Boatgreen properties and returned to Edinburgh, but they would come back to Gatehouse and subjects such as Woods at Little Boreland, Anwoth, Skyeburn Bay were hung in the RSA exhibitions in subsequent years. The Sturrocks last visited Gatehouse in 1951 when they stayed at the Old School House at Anwoth. Alick Sturrock went on to become the Treasurer of the Royal Scottish Academy and was elected Secretary just two months before he died in 1953. His wife Mary lived on in Edinburgh till her death in 1985 See also: Artists Footsteps - a website featuring the work of Dumfries and Galloway artists of the past. |
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