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Famous Orcadians - Arts

Orkney has many local artists, writers and musicians and artists who have moved to its shores to take inspiration from the beautiful scenery, the ever-changing colour of the sea and sky and the juxtaposition of ancient and modern. Introduced in this section are a few of the more famous of Orkney's sons who are known throughout for the achievements in the arts.

Edwin Muir (1887-1959)
"Long time he lay upon the sunny hill,
To his fathers' house below securely bound.
Far off the silent, changing sound was still,
With the black islands lying thick around."

- taken from the poem "Childhood" in the collection "First Poems" (1925), Edwin Muir

Edwin Muir was born in Deerness, Orkney in 1887. At the age of 14 he moved to Glasgow, 1919 he married and settled in London. Whilst travelling in Europe he and his wife translated over 40 books mainly from German including "The Castle", "The Trial", and "America" by Kafka. After the Second World War he was made Director of the British Council in Prague until the communist take-over of Czechoslovakia. After this he went on to work in Rome in a similar position, he then moved to work at Newbattle Abbey Further Education College in Scotland. At Harvard University, in the US he was the visiting professor of poetry. His poems appeared in eight slim volumes, dating from 1925, notably in the "Voyage" (1946) and "The Labyrinth" (1949).

Sir Stanley Cursiter (1887-1976)
Stanley Cursiter was born in Kirkwall, Orkney in 1887. He attended Kirkwall Grammar School and then became an apprentice to an Edinburgh printing firm from there he went on to attend the Edinburgh College of Art. He was the first secretary of Royal Fine Arts Commission for Scotland. He went on to become President of the Society of Scottish Artists and Keeper of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1930 to 1948 and until his death in 1976 was the Queen's Painter and Limner for Scotland.

One of his most important paintings was that of the Queen at St Giles Cathedral at the time of her coronation.

In 1948 he was made a Freeman of Kirkwall. He was a painter who specialised in portrait painting and landscapes especially those of Orkney. Additionally he worked closely with Reynold Eunson in the creation and design of the St Rognvald Chapel in St Magnus Cathedral. He was nationally acclaimed and highly regarded by his peers and critics.

Robert Rendall (1898 - 1967)
"The solitudes of land and sea assuage
My quenchless thirst for freedom unconfined;
With independent heart and mind
Hold I my heritage."

- taken from the poem "Orkney Crofter"

Robert Rendall despite being born in Glasgow is considered Orcadian; he was of Westray parentage and returned to Orkney at a very young age. He is remembered as one of Orkney's best scholars and as a modern Renaissance man. He was educated in Kirkwall Grammar School until the age of 13, after this he was self-taught. During the First World War he joined the Royal Navy and was stationed in Scapa Flow.

In 1946 he turned his full attention to science, culture, crofting and trout fishing. This year also saw the publication of his book "Country Sonnets". Other titles by Robert Rendall to be published were "Orkney Variants" (1951), "Shore Poems" (1957), "The Hidden Land" (1966), "Mollusca Orcadensia" (1956) and "The Orkney Shore" (1960).

He also contributed to the Journal of Conchology where his essays and papers were held in very high regard. It is possible to view his collection of shells and seaweeds at the Stromness Museum.

Eric Linklater (1899-1974)

Not strictly Orcadian, Eric Linklater was born in South Wales in 1899, he had an Orcadian father and a Swedish mother, however, he certainly considered himself an Orcadian. During World War I he served as a private in the Black Watch Regiment on the Somme front. He was badly wounded in the head during the War and had to spend some time in hospital.

After the First World War Linklater who had been studying medicine, transferred to King's College, Aberdeen to read English literature. He spent a few years working as assistant editor of "The Times of India" in Bombay. Upon returning to Scotland he finished his first novel in 1928, "White Maa's Saga", a semi-biographical story about an Orcadian medical student at the fictional medical school "Inverdoon".

In 1928 Linklater worked as an assistant at the University of Aberdeen and then spent two years in the US and China on a Commonwealth Fellowship. At Berkley instead of attending lectures he wrote his novel "Juan in America" which was chosen by the Book Society as Book of the Month. The novel was published in 1931 and was reprinted nine times.

His experience throughout the Second World War gave the idea for the novel "Private Angelo" published in 1946. The book was filmed in 1949, starring Peter Ustinov. Other works include stories for children, non-fiction books, philosophical dialogues and radio plays.

He died in 1974 with the funeral taking part in Kirkwall and he is now buried in St Michael's churchyard in Harray.

Ernest Walker Marwick 1915-1977
Ernest Marwick, born 1915 in Evie, Orkney. His only formal education was at Evie School which he attended until he was 10, after that he was self-educated. He started off working on the family farm, but went on to become a distinguished scholar specialising in folklore, local history, and poetry. Additionally he went into broadcasting and writing and editing.

In 1960 he founded the first local radio programme "Town and Country" with the BBC. He was a regular presenter and interviewer for the programme and he went on to do over 800 broadcasts for the BBC. In 1975 his book "The Folklore of Orkney and Shetland" was published. He then went on to collect and assemble "The History of the Orkney People in the Nineteenth Century". And at the age of 60 was awarded an honorary MA degree from Edinburgh University, additionally he was made a Freeman of Kirkwall.

George Mackay Brown (1921-1996)

George Mackay Brown "The old man knocked out his pipe, spat, lifted six creels from the wall, and slowly walked down to the boats.
A young man lifted scythe from the end of the barn. He began to whet it on a red stone.
The gate of life had been opened.
Between that and the dark gate where the fish and the fleece
and the loaf, the oil jars and the jars of salt and the jars of grain, and the one small jar of honey."
Photo: Gordon Wright

Extract taken from "A Jar of Honey", in "Fishermen With Ploughs - A Poem Cycle" by George Mackay Brown, The Hogarth Press, London 1971.

George Mackay Brown the Orkney writer has many published poems, short stories and novels. His hometown of Stromness as well as the beauty and wonder of the Orkney Isles provided numerous ideas for many of his writings. He also took inspiration from the old tales once told round the fireside in Orkney, the story of Vikings, Earls and history that shaped the landscape as well as the people of Orkney today.

He was born in Stromness in 1921 and apart from a short time during the 1950's when he went south to study at Newbattle Abbey College in Dalkieth and then at Edinburgh University, he spent most of his life in Orkney. His first book of poems, "The Storm" was published in 1954. He went on to write many poems, short stories and novels, which received much critical acclaim. In 1994 his novel "Beside the Ocean of Time" received the Saltire Scotsman Award for Scottish Book of the Year and was also short-listed for the Booker Prize. He was awarded the James Tait Black Prize for "The Golden Bird" in 1998.

Robert Shaw (1927-1978)
Robert Shaw was born in Orkney on 9th August 1927. He went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He debuted onstage at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1949. He then appeared in both British and American films, notably it was his role in the James Bond movie "From Russia with Love" that he is remembered for. Shaw received a nomination for a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar in 1966 for his interpretation of Henry VIII in "A Man for All Seasons". In 1967 his novel "The Man in the Glass Booth" was published which he adapted into a play, which found success both in London and New York. In 1975 the play was made into a film. During the 70's he also appeared in "The Sting", "Jaws" and "The Deep".