Robert MacBryde

Robert MacBryde (1913–1966) was a Scottish painter, printmaker and theatre designer best known for his still lifes, in which fruit, fish, vessels and other objects are arranged with a strong sense of colour, structure and psychological tension. Closely associated throughout his life with the painter Robert Colquhoun, he was one of the most prominent young artists working in Britain during the 1940s.

Born in Maybole, Ayrshire, MacBryde studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1932 to 1937, where he met Colquhoun. The two became lifelong partners and were widely known as the “Two Roberts”. After travelling in France and Italy they moved to London during the Second World War, becoming part of the Soho circle that included Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, John Minton, Dylan Thomas and George Barker.

MacBryde’s first solo exhibition was held at the Reid & Lefevre Gallery in 1943. His reputation developed rapidly during the 1940s, and his work was acquired by major museums including the Museum of Modern Art, New York. By the end of the decade he and Colquhoun were among the best-known painters of their generation.

Still life became MacBryde’s principal subject. Influenced by Cubism and, at times, Surrealism, he arranged fruit, fish, bones, vessels and patterned objects within shallow, tilted spaces. His paintings depend on carefully balanced relationships of shape and colour, while shadows and unexpected juxtapositions often introduce an element of unease. The National Galleries of Scotland holds an important group of his work, including Still Life, Still Life with Cucumberand Still Life – Fish on a Pedestal Table.

MacBryde also worked as a printmaker and theatre designer. Together with Colquhoun he produced designs for stage and ballet productions, while his lithographs extended many of the formal concerns found in his paintings. His work was shown internationally, including in British Council exhibitions, and in 1947 The Chess Player travelled to Sweden in an exhibition of modern British art.

The Redfern Gallery showed MacBryde during the 1950s. In 1954 he participated in two mixed exhibitions at the gallery, part of Redfern’s wider programme of post-war British painting and printmaking. The gallery has continued to present and handle his work in later exhibitions of Modern British art.

MacBryde’s career declined during the later 1950s as tastes shifted towards abstraction. After Colquhoun’s death in 1962 he spent increasing periods in Ireland. He died in Dublin in 1966 following a road accident, aged fifty-three.

His work is held in major public collections including the National Galleries of Scotland and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.