Wilson, William, OBE RSA RSW
1905 – 1972
Began work at Messrs Ballantine stained glass studio and studied in the evenings at Edinburgh College of Art specialising in engravings before turning to etching.
At ECA he became friends with William Gillies and John Maxwell and his work shows the same expressionist approach to landscape in particular. Travelled to Spain as a result of the RSA Carnegie Scholarship. Spent a period studying at the Royal College of Art in London.
Returning to Edinburgh he worked as a designer of stained glass at Ballantine's before establishing his own stained-glass studio at Belford Mews from which he fulfilled many important commissions, mostly in Scotland but as far afield as England, South Africa and Canada.
In addition to printmaking and stained glass he was also very proficient in the medium of watercolour recording not only the Scottish landscape but also his many visits to France and Italy in particular.
He exhibited at the RSA Annual Exhibitions from 1924 until 1960 when he became blind. He became an Associate Member in 1939 and an Academician in 1949. He received the OBE in 1961.
He was involved on the Executive committee of the Edinburgh International Festival during the 1950s.
Historic Environment Scotland erected one of its famous people plaques on his former studio at 11a Belford Mews in 2020 in recognition of his contribution to stained glass in Scotland.
In 2022 a major exhibition of his work across printmaking, watercolour, and stained glass, was mounted by the Royal Scottish Academy accompanied by a fully illustrated publication.
His uncle Thomas Wilson had been a student at the RSA Life School before William Wilson was born. The RSA Collections hold an example of his work as well as a copy of his father's volume of poems which he illustrated.
The RSA holds an important group of William Wilson's work and reflecting all aspects of it, including a small group of his original etching plates, a secular stained glass panel formerly owned by Sir W G Gillies OBE RA RSA RSW, and the largest archive of his stained glass cartoons.
Works in which this creator appears
