About this artwork
In 1924 Ramsay Macdonald became Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary of Britain's first Labour government. Born in Lossiemouth, Moray, he was the son of a local girl and a Highland ploughman who never married. He lived in poverty for much of his early life. This first Labour administration only lasted a few months and was troubled by industrial unrest culminating in the General Strike of 1926, which Ramsay Macdonald had done his utmost to avert. Painted in 1926, this is a curiously private image of a public figure during a particularly turbulent phase of his career.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Ambrose McEvoy (1878 - 1927) English
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title:James Ramsay Macdonald, 1866 - 1937. Prime minister
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date created:1926
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:99.10 x 78.70 cm; Framed: 130.20 x 111.00 x 14.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Presented by Sir Alexander Grant through the Scottish Modern Arts Association 1938
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accession number:PG 1351
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gallery:
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depicted:
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subject:
Ambrose McEvoy
Ambrose McEvoy
Ambrose McEvoy was born in Wiltshire. James McNeill Whistler spotted his talent early on and encouraged him to enroll at the Slade School of Fine Art in London when he was fifteen. At the Slade he was part of the group around Augustus John and William Orpen. In 1900 he became a member of the New...