Biography
Alexander Milligan Galt RGI (b. Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK 1913 – d. 2000) studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1930. His fellow students would tease him over his poverty and often he was forced to make his own paints and use his hair to make brushes. On graduation, Galt won the Torrance Award and his diploma work toured Scotland’s art schools as an example for students to follow. His tutors termed Galt “the human camera” and his fellow-student David Donaldson (1916-1996) said that he could “out-Orpen Orpen” [Irish artist Sir William Orpen (1878-1931)]. He was introduced to The Redfern Gallery by the theatre critic James Agate (1847-1947) after The Stable Boy had been gifted from the Trustees of the Stuart Anderson Caird Bequest to the McLean Museum and Art Gallery in his home town of Greenock in 1938 – the same year Galt won the Carnegie Travelling Scholarship which took him to Montparnasse in Paris for two years. During WW2 he flew with the RAF and afterwards he taught at Glasgow School of Art, and then art at Greenock High School. He exhibited with Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, RSA and RSW. He was a member of the Glasgow Art Club. Panter & Hall, who took over the management of his estate, included him in a group show, 200 Years of Scottish Painting (2003) and gave him a solo show in 2004.
