Moira Maitland (1936–2004), Scottish

“This is another painting by Joe Hendry exploring the theme of the kilted Scottish figure. The man is shown from behind, hands clasped behind his back, standing quite calmly on the canvas.

What I like about this one is its simplicity. There’s nothing complicated about it — just a figure, a kilt, and a quiet bit of attitude. Hendry manages to make something very Scottish feel fresh and contemporary at the same time.”

Moira Maitland (1936–2004) was a Scottish painter associated with the post-war generation of artists connected with Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen. She studied at Gray’s during the 1950s, a period when the school was an important centre for Scottish modern painting. Among the influential teachers at Gray’s was the painter Colin Thoms, whose teaching shaped a number of significant Scottish artists including Will MacLean, Joyce Cairns and Moira Maitland.

Working primarily in painting and drawing, Maitland developed a personal approach that often explored still-life subjects, interiors and figurative studies. Works recorded from her career include paintings such as Jug I (1983) and Abstract Windowsill Study (1996), demonstrating her interest in everyday objects and interior spaces as pictorial subjects.

During the 1980s she was active within the Scottish exhibition scene, with documented exhibitions including a show at the Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh in 1984, where she exhibited alongside other contemporary Scottish artists.