Thomas Symington Halliday
{{Short description|Scottish artist and teacher}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Thomas Symington Halliday
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1902|4|11}}
| birth_place = Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1998|5|22|1902|4|11}}
| death_place = Ashford, Kent
| nationality = British
| field = Sculpture, Painting, Stained Glass
| training = Glasgow School of Art
}}
Thomas Symington Halliday {{Post-nominals|post-noms=MBE FRSA}} (11 April 1902 – 22 May 1998) was a Scottish artist and teacher. Although Halliday was an accomplished sculptor, painter and teacher, he is also known for his designs for stained glass windows.
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Biography
Halliday was born in Thornhill near Dumfries. His father was a grain merchant and he grew up on a farm.{{cite web |author=Dougie Miller|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12263570.Thomas_Halliday/|title=Thomas Halliday |date=26 May 1998|access-date=20 October 2017|work=The Herald (Scotland)}} After attending Ayr Academy, Halliday spent some years working as a marine engineer on the River Clyde in Glasgow before he enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art.{{cite book|author=Peter J.M. McEwan|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1994|title=The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture|isbn=1-85149-134-1}} Helped by the artist Norman Forrest, Halliday began his career as a sculptor in 1932 and would, in due course, produce figures of animals and birds in wood, bronze and terracotta.
Halliday worked as the Art Master at Prestwick High School for several years and also taught at Ayr Academy. In 1941 he was appointed principal of the art department at the High School of Dundee, a post he retained until he retired in 1965. During World War Two, Halliday painted ship building and naval camouflage operations on the Clyde. Two of these paintings were subsequently purchased by the War Artists' Advisory Committee and are now held by the Imperial War Museum in London.{{cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1050001312
|title=Correspondence with Artists, Thomas S Halliday |publisher=Imperial War Museum|access-date=24 October 2017}} Later he was commissioned to paint a large mural of the Battle of Narvik for the Royal Naval Dockyard at Rosyth. In 1947 he co-edited, with the poet George Bruce, the magazine Scottish Sculpture.{{cite book|author=David Buckman|publisher=Art Dictionaries Ltd|year=1998|title=Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L |isbn=0-95326-095-X}}
For many years, Halliday lived at Wormit at Newport-on-Tay. There he carved the war memorial for the parish church and designed a coat of arms for the Town Council. Newport-on-Tay Town Council also commissioned him to produce a carving of a stag, which they presented to the Queen in 1958. He designed numerous stained glass windows including several for parish churches in and around Ayr and Dundee. He was a founding member of the Guild of Aviation Artists, was a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists and was elected to Society of Scottish Artists in 1943. In 1963 he exhibited works with the New Scottish Group. Halliday was also a regular exhibitor with both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.{{cite book|author=Grant M. Waters|publisher=Eastbourne Fine Art|year=1975|title=Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900-1950}} He was awarded an MBE in 1963.{{cite web|url=http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib6_1211290024
|title=Mapping the Practice & Profession of Sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851-1951 |publisher=University of Glasgow History of Art / HATII|year=2011|access-date=20 October 2017}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Art UK bio}}
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Category:20th-century Scottish painters
Category:Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art
Category:Royal Scottish Academicians
Category:Scottish male painters
Category:Scottish stained glass artists and manufacturers
Category:People associated with Dundee
Category:People educated at Ayr Academy
Category:People from Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway
Category:20th-century British war artists