Born Newburgh, Aberdeenshire 23 December; died Tangiers 1 December. Etcher, watercolourist and occasional painter in oils. An elegant, refined and often underrated artist. Whilst his watercolours present an idiosyncratic vision of the world, especially the parched lands of North Africa and the coastlines of Holland, East Anglia and north-east Scotland, it is for his etchings that he is best remembered. Had an abiding love for his native corner of Scotland but sadly this was so long frustrated he once referred to the area as 'a fair but stern land that held for me sad associations and in whose rigid economy I, as an artist, had no place'. Apart from a brief period of study at Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen and some desultory lessons with Jon Hay, both in 1901, he was self taught, even to the extent of making a printing press out of an old mangle. It is said that he read every one of the 700 volumes then in the fine art section of Aberdeen's Public Library. The book that most captured his imagination was Whistler's The Gentle Art of Making Enemies; in order to frequent the exhibition in Edinburgh of 1903 McBey took a job with the Kirkcaldy branch of the North of Scotland Bank.
The thin application of paint and economy of line, whether in oil or watercolour, were learned from Whistler and remained a lasting characteristic of his work. In his etchings he was influenced by Rembrandt, especially in the treatment of chiaroscuro, creation of atmosphere and delicacy of characterisation, as well as by Whistler's balance and rhythm stemming in turn from the Japanese print of Hokusai and Hiroshige. McBey produced his first known etching, a view of Aberdeen harbour, in 1902 and three years later one was accepted by the RSA and two by the RGI. The following year he established a studio at 220 Union St, Aberdeen. In 1910 he left the bank to work full-time as an artist. His first one-man exhibition was held at the John Kesson Gallery, Aberdeen, when five of the 20 exhibits were sold. The same year he visited Spain with his artist friend D I Smart and had a show in London with 77 prints sold. In 1912 he appointed Colnaghi as his agent and with James Kerr Lawson he set forth to visit Morocco, thus beginning a long association with North Africa that continued during WWI with the Australian Camel Patrol in Egypt and Palestine. Also worked as an official war artist in France. In 1916 he was commissioned and posted to the Army Printing and Stationery Services in Boulogne from where he was rescued by Campbell Dodgson and sent to join Allenby. At this time he began experimenting with pen washes over drawings and with watercolour. Between 1919 and 1921 three sets of etchings based on his war drawings were published and a series of illustrated letters to William Hutcheon appeared in The Graphic. Over the next two years he visited France, Holland and Spain and in 1923 designed the famous label for 'Cutty Sark' whisky. There followed several visits to Venice culminating in the publication of his 'Venice Set' in 1926. He next undertook two trips to the States, incorporating an unsuccessful exhibition in Chicago and in 1931 married Marguerite Loeb of Philadelphia in New York. Together they visited Spain (1932) and Morocco (1932), buying a house in Tangiers. Returning to Aberdeen he was awarded an honorary doctorate and began concentrating more on portraiture. Among his sitters were TE Lawrence, King Feisal and general Allenby. In 1939 he was agin in the States and having had his offer to resume work as a war artist rejected on the grounds of age he became an American citizen. This distressed some quarters in Scotland who never quite forgave him. There is a McBey Memorial print room within Aberdeen AG given to the display of some of his finest works. McBey completed no work after 1951owing to the discouragement of his Philadelphia patron and friend, HH Kynett.
He was probably the finest and most distinctive Scottish artist never to have been honoured by his country's academy. Exhibited RA (15), RSA (12), GI (45), AAS 1906-37 and L (74), but mostly with the Fine Art Society and Colnaghi in London. Represented in BM, Imperial War Museum, Aberdeen AG, Dundee AG, Perth AG, City of Edinburgh collection, Hunterian AG, Glasgow, Brodie Castle (NTS), and the Nat Gall of New Zealand (Wellington).

The sitter was James McBey's niece and she spent a very happy time with the McBeys at their Tangiers home in the summer of 1956, when this oil was painted. The painting comes with a photograph of McBey actually painting this very scene and the picture has been in the family since it was made. McBey was fond of scrummaging around in antique shops looking for frames and this is one such outcome.