Biography
John McLean (b. Liverpool, UK 1939 - d. 2019) studied English at St Andrews University, Scotland and history of art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (1963-66). He was the son of the Scotttish abstract expressionist artist Talbert McLean (1906-1992) but was a self-taught abstract painter who had a studio in the Stockwell Depot, a former brewery converted into artist spaces. McLean supplemented his income by writing exhibition reviews and teaching at art schools, including at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in the early 80s. He had his first solo exhibition in 1975 and participated in a group show, Four Abstract Painters at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (1977) and returned to Scotland as artist-in-residence at Edinburgh University (1984-85). He was also artist residence in New York (1987-89). His many awards include an Arts Council Major Award, 1980; The Lorne Award, 1993; Critics Award, Edinburgh Festival, 1994; and a Bryan Robertson Trust Award, 2008 His work is also held by many public collections worldwide, including the Tate, London; Swindon Art Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh and Boca Raton Museum of Art, USA and the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA. The estate of John McLean is managed by The Fine Art Society.
