Item NMC/1928U - Drawing of city skyline

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Reference code

NMC/1928U

Title

Drawing of city skyline

Date(s)

  • Mar 1912 (Creation)

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Item

Extent

1 item

Content and Structure

Scope and content

Drawing of city skyline including roofs, chimneys and church steeple. Annotated with the artist's name and date 'March 1912'. Drawn while the artist studied at Dundee Technical College and School of Art, 1911-1912.

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Biographical history

Jessie Dunlop McCulloch Wilson was born on 24th January 1888 in Cupar, Fife. She was the daughter of Gavin Laurie Wilson, a draper and clothier, and Janet McCulloch. Her mother died of complications from childbirth, after which her father re-married to Alison Johnston Russell, and the family settled in Netherfield, Newton (Fife). Between those two marriages, Jessie D. Mc. Wilson had two brothers, one half-brother and two half-sisters.

Her father established a drapery business in Cupar, which he moved to Dundee and developed into a successful department store. Jessie’s older brother Garnet Wilson was Lord Provost of Dundee and was knighted in 1944; he published a book about his career, which described the family as close-knit and emphasises the importance of their religious observance. Jessie Wilson attended school in Dundee before starting at a boarding school in Edinburgh. At the age of 13 she and her step-family went to Bridge of Allan, and she resided with the family of fellow GSA student and co-owner of The Studio, Strathyre, Mary Anderson Ramsay, possibly due to poor health.

Jessie D. Mc. Wilson was a day student at The Glasgow School of Art from session 1912/13 to session 1916/17. She studied mostly Drawing & Painting, but also Modelling & Sculpture and Design. During most of her time as a student she listed her address as 488 Cathedral Street. During her studies she excelled in embroidery and was taught by Ann Macbeth; like Macbeth she often combined her work across both mediums, and The Studio stocked her work in both forms. In 1915 she participated in the Belgian Tryst, a fundraising effort on behalf of Belgian Refugees displaced during the First World War, volunteering in the Tea Room. She was awarded the Diploma in Design & Decorative Art by The Glasgow School of Art in session 1916/17. She also qualified as a Teacher of Art at The Glasgow School of Art, completing her professional training in the 1920/21 session.

During September 1916, her half-brother Gavin Arthur Wilson enrolled to the 14th London Regiment, London Scottish Battalion in a Short Service for the duration of War. While serving in France, he died on the 31st August 1918 at the 46th Casualty Clearing Station in Bac-du-Sud, Bailleulval (Pas-de-Calais), where he is interred at the British Cemetery. He was 19 years old and had attained the rank of Lance Corporal.

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Donated by Lesley Heming in April 2018. Accession number JAC/256.

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Physical Description

Pencil drawing on thick cream-coloured paper.

Dimensions: 518 x 384 mm

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Final

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Language(s)

  • English

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