Born in Lochwinnoch in 1926, McClure’s studies at Glasgow University, were interrupted when he was called up for military service and became a Bevan Boy down the mines of west Lothian. Some of his earliest surviving works are of scenes down the mine, portraits of the miners themselves as well as surrealist and cubist landscapes depicting pitheads and bings, richly influenced by the works of Graham Sutherland.
He returned to study after the war at Edinburgh College of Art alongside Elizabeth Blackadder, John Houston and David Michie, where students came under the influences of the major Edinburgh figures of the time such as Anne Redpath, William Gillies, John Maxwell, William MacTaggart and Robert Henderson Blyth. McClure graduated in the early 1950s and in 1952 a Travelling Scholarship took him to Spain and France.
In 1955 he was awarded the Andrew Grant Scholarship which led to a period of travelling and painting. McClure spent a period in Millport, Scotland before travelling to Florence and then Sicily. This time in Italy had a lasting effect on his painting. After returning to Edinburgh McClure took up a part time teaching position at Edinburgh College of Art. He continued to paint at this time and was commissioned as the artist involved in the reconstruction of the King's room at Falkland Palace, Fife, where his murals and ceiling paintings can still be seen today
He spent the majority of professional life in Dundee teaching at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art from 1958 where he gained a further opportunity to travel and paint, spending three months in Oslo, Norway with his family.
His last years of his time at Duncan of Jordanstone McClure became Head of Painting, succeeding his friend, colleague, Alberto Morrocco RSA, before retiring in 1985. Following his retirement from teaching McClure painted quite prolifically until shortly before his death on 20 May 1998 on his 72nd birthday.
By Kevin McClure
