Ancell Stronach ARSA 1901-1981

Ancell Stronach was a Scottish artist born in Dundee in 1901. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art, where he later became Professor of Mural Painting and was winner of the Royal Scottish Academy Guthrie Award in 1927. 

He was a painter of portraits and figure subjects primarily, exhibiting at the Paris Salon, the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Academy and in Canada, New Zealand and America. He was also a mural and church decorator and stained-glass designer.  

In 1939 he resigned from his professorship at the Glasgow School of Art to set up his own circus act, Ancell and His Painted Pigeons alongside his partner – a professional acrobat. He did not engage with art again in a professional capacity though it is believed that he continued to paint in his personal life.