The Art of Will MacLean: Symbols of Survival 1974-2002

Will Maclean RSA, Professer of Painting in the University of Dundee, is one of the outstanding Scottish artists of his generation. He was born in Inverness where his father, a former sailor, was harbour master, and he spent his childhood between Inverness and Skye. His art is rooted in his knowledge of the Highlands, the Highland people and their history, and in his own early associations with sailors and the sea. These things make it relevant and immediately accessible, yet it remains uncompromisingly modern in its forms and in its concerns. In this new edition, Duncan Macmillan has extended and updated the book, first published in 1992, to include the important work that the artist has done in the last decade. Fittingly, the great Gaelic poet, the late Sorely Maclean, contributed a foreword to the first edition of Symbols of Survival. It is reprinted here and, elsewhere in the book, as he explores the poetry and meaning of Maclean’s subtle and complex art, the author shows how, like Sorley MacLean’s poetry, it reaches out from the artist’s own experience to touch on universal themes.