Baird, Edward

Person

Baird, Edward

1904-1949

A native of Montrose, Baird lived in the town for most of his life and it provided the subject for some of his best-known paintings. Poor health prevented him from following the family tradition of seagoing, and after attending Montrose Academy, he enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art in 1924, studying alongside James McIntosh Patrick who became a close friend.

A very successful student, Baird was awarded the Newbery medal in 1927, the year he gained his Diploma. Following his Board of Education exam in 1928, he was awarded a Travelling Scholarship of £120 and spent four months to March 1929 travelling and studying in Italy.

Moving back to Montrose, he became involved in the ‘Scottish Renaissance’ movement in the town and early Scottish Nationalist politics, with the author Fionn MacColla (whose portrait he painted in 1932) and the poet and essayist Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Murray Grieve) then editor of 'The Montrose Review' newspaper. In 1939, Baird adapted a portrait of another local friend, James “Pumphy” Davidson to show him wearing the armband of the forerunners of the Home Guard, and the image was widely used in early war propaganda efforts.

Appointed as an Official War Artist in 1942, he produced his best-known painting that year, “Unidentified Aircraft” (Glasgow Museums) with a striking image of Montrose. By 1944, his health had deteriorated, and Baird was hospitalised. Though he recovered, he only lived another five years. His output was small, around forty paintings and a similar number of drawings during his career, but they reveal a highly individual and often unsettling vision.

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