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Received some initial training as an architect and then worked as an apprentice designer for five years in Edinburgh whilst attending evening classes at the Trustees Academy before proceeding to study for three years at Edinburgh College of Art. After graduating he spent time working as a freelance designer and map printer during the Great War. He became President of the SSA and then Keeper of the National Galleries succeeding Sir James Caw as Director in 1930 a post he held until 1948 when he became King's Painter and Limner in Scotland. From this period he spent his summer months painting in Orkney eventually retiring there. He exhibited at the RSA Annual Exhibitions from 1909 until 1962, he became an Associate Member of the RSA in 1927 and an Academician in 1937.