Artworks by John Halliday 1933-2021
John Halliday was born in Kirkcudbright, July 14th 1933. His early schooling was at the Johnston School and Kirkcudbright Academy, 1938-1949. His determination to be a painter increased under the inspiring tutelage of Jean Menzies. When the painter Cecile Walton came to Kirkcudbright in 1947 a close friendship grew between the fourteen year old schoolboy and this distinguished artist.
Both Jean Menzies and Cecile Walton encouraged Halliday to go to the Glasgow School of Art and he began his studies there in 1949.
After leaving GSA and determined not to become an art teacher, Halliday worked at a number of jobs which would allow him to continue his involvement with the Fine Arts. From his Kirkcudbright days he had hoped someday to design for the theatre. A meeting with the Glasgow architect Jack Notman and other patrons produced more than seventy murals. The variety of subjects involved allowed many opportunities for him to indulge his love of architecture and the theatre.
