John Duncan (1866-1945) was born and educated in Dundee. After a few years working as an illustrator in London, he studied art in Belgium and Germany before returning to Scotland. Eventually he settled in Edinburgh and became one of the key artists in the “Celtic Revival” movement, creating such memorable paintings as The Riders of the Sidhe (1912, McManus Galleries, Dundee). He sought to reinvent and re-present Celtic imagery through borrowing subjects from myths, legends and decorative devices from early Celtic art.
FURTHER READING
John Kemplay, The Paintings of John Duncan. A Scottish Symbolist (Pomegranate 1994)
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