John McKirdy Duncan (1866-1945)

Duncan is one of the unsung heroes of the international Symbolist movement. He is little known outside his native Scotland, and his work was hailed as a revelation when many of the finest examples were seen in the Last Romantics exhibition at the Barbican in 1989.

Born in Dundee, the son of a cattle dealer, Duncan was studying at the Dundee School of Art by the age of eleven. After three years in London doing hack work for publishers, he continued his studies in Antwerp and Dusseldorf and spent a winter in Rome, where he developed an ardent admiration for Michelangelo. Back in Dundee, he became a member of the local Graphic Arts Association, and in 1908-9 he shared a studio wit...