Talbert McLean (1906-1992) born in Dundee, his father a banjo player and went to the art school there (1923-7) to study design. Coming to London, he painted scenery at Covent Garden and the Old Vic.He maintained a highly successful career as a cartoonist (mainly Men Only) After the war he was appointed Art Master at Arbroath High School. he was an innovative painter of abstractions and a key show was mounted by the Fine Art Society in Edinburgh. Talbert McLean

An exhibition of work by pioneering Scottish abstract artist Talbert McLean, shown alongside works by his son, John. Talbert's work is in the collection of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Dundee Art Gallery, Glasgow Museums and The Hunterian.

“There are those painters who take starting points at odds with the so-called ‘Scottish colourist’ standpoint. One thinks of the relative obscurity of Talbert McLean, in my opinion by far the best abstractionist Scotland has so far produced: but because his work is low-keyed and essentially tonal, and his paint is applied meticulously with no impasto, he rarely gets a good showing in the major exhibitions…” - James Morrison on Talbert McLean in the 1960s..