James Mcbey

Vocation

James McBey was a largely self-taught Scottish artist and etcher whose prints were highly valued during the later stages of the etching revival in the early 20th century. During World War I he was appointed an official war artist to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Throughout 1917 and 1918 McBey accompanied the Allied advance in Palestine, from Gaza to Damascus. Working in both watercolours and oils McBey produced some 300 pieces, many of which are now in the Imperial War Museum. The work of James McBey is held by the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the Huntington Library, California; and by the Aberdeen Art Gallery where the McBey Art Reference Library was established in his name in 1961, based on a bequest from McBey’s wife, photographer Margaret Loeb. There is an almost complete collection of his etchings at the Boston Public Library Link to Wikipedia