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17 Facts About Murray Urquhart

1.

Murray McNeel Caird Urquhart, commonly known as Murray Urquhart, was a Scottish painter and book illustrator.

2.

Murray Urquhart was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists.

3.

Murray Urquhart's parents were Helen Crokat McNeel and Dr Andrew John Urquhart, a minister in Portpatrick, Wigtownshire.

4.

Murray Urquhart's father died four months before Murray's birth and his mother died two weeks after Murray's birth.

5.

Murray Urquhart was later taken in by his spinster aunt, Sarah Urquhart, in Edinburgh.

6.

Murray Urquhart then enrolled at the Edinburgh School of Art.

7.

Murray Urquhart was a watercolorist in the classic British tradition, specializing in landscapes.

8.

Murray Urquhart was known for landscapes with a pointilliste technique.

9.

Murray Urquhart was inspired by the French impressionists, but did not care for the work of Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, or Pablo Picasso.

10.

Murray Urquhart firmly believed he would be "one of the world's preeminent painters".

11.

Murray Urquhart exhibited his paintings at the Lefevre Gallery, London Portrait Society, the New English Art Club, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the Royal Society of British Artists, and Walker's Galleries.

12.

Murray Urquhart was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1914.

13.

Murray Urquhart became an active member of the Society of Somerset Artists, becoming a vice-president in 1944 and later Chairman of the group in 1949.

14.

Murray Urquhart was a spiritualist who said he could talk to ghosts.

15.

Murray Urquhart painted during daylight hours wherever he happened to be.

16.

Murray Urquhart lived outside of London where his two sons from his prior marriage would visit for ten days each year.

17.

Murray Urquhart died in 1972 at Hindhead, Surrey at the age of 91.