David Forrester Wilson, RSA (Scottish, 1873-1950) - Watercolour - Woman carrying a bundle of sticks

David Forrester Wilson, RSA (Scottish, 1873-1950) - Watercolour - Woman carrying a bundle of sticks, signed lower left, 50cm x 32cm, framed under glass

Born in Glasgow in 1873, David Forrester Wilson attended evening classes at Gorbals Public School whilst working as a traveller in tea, and 1899 gave up his business career to study at the Glasgow School of Art under Professor Delville. He won the Haldane Scholarship in 1901 and in 1905 travelled to mainland Europe where he continued his study of painting in Italy, Belgium and Paris before returning to the UK to study in London.

Wilson returned to Glasgow and re-joined the Glasgow School of Art, this time as a member of staff, where he remained until he retired from teaching in 1938. He was appointed ARSA in 1922 and RSA in 1932. His works were mainly exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, but his works were also shown in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

When Andy Warhol’s estate was offered posthumously at Sotheby’s in 1988, several works by David Forrester Wilson emerged from Warhol’s personal collection, one selling for a multiple-estimate $110,000. The painting hung in the boardroom of ‘The Factory’ in New York.