Scottie Wilson: The Glasgow Junk Dealer Picasso Collected
A Glasgow-born junk dealer who started drawing in his forties, sold his pictures for shillings, and was collected by Picasso and Dubuffet.
By The Outsider Artist editors, Editorial team, Website Studio
Updated
· Last reviewed · 3 min read
In short
- Scottie Wilson (died 1972) was born Louis Freeman in Glasgow; sources give his birth year as 1888, 1889 or 1891.
- He had little schooling, sold newspapers as a boy, served in the First World War and emigrated to Canada.
- He began drawing at about 44, in his second-hand shop in Toronto, using a fountain pen nib.
- Jean Dubuffet and Pablo Picasso both collected his work; he met them in France in the early 1950s.
- He is often described as Scotland's most famous outsider artist; his work is in the National Galleries of Scotland, Tate and the Whitworth.
Who was Scottie Wilson?
Scottie Wilson was born Louis Freeman in Glasgow, in what is now the Merchant City, to a poor Jewish family who had come from Lithuania. Sources disagree on his birth year: 1888, 1889 and 1891 all appear. He left school early to help support the family, selling newspapers on the street, and he remained barely literate all his life.
He served with the Scottish Rifles in the First World War and afterwards emigrated to Canada, where he took the name Robert Wilson and became known as "Scottie". In Toronto he ran a second-hand shop.
How did Scottie Wilson start drawing?
Wilson began drawing in his shop in his mid-forties, around 1932. By his own account he picked up a fountain pen, began doodling on the table top and found he could not stop. He drew obsessively from then on, working in ink with fine hatched lines, then adding coloured crayon.
He was a natural showman. He hired empty shops and charged a small fee to see exhibitions of what one poster called "the most amazing Dream Pictures ever shown to the public".
What does his art look like?
Wilson's drawings are built from countless fine lines that form birds, fish, flowers, trees, totem-like faces and fantastic buildings, all arranged in symmetrical, decorative compositions. He divided his imagery into a moral world: peaceful birds, swans and flowers stand for good, while sharp-featured faces he called "Greedies" and "Evils" stand for greed and cruelty. The effect can be both delicate and unsettling.
How did Picasso and Dubuffet discover him?
Wilson moved to London in 1945 and was taken up by dealers and by the Surrealists. In the early 1950s Jean Dubuffet persuaded him to visit France. According to his friend, the critic Bill Hopkins, who travelled with him, Pablo Picasso was waiting with Dubuffet when they arrived; both already owned some of Scottie's work, and Picasso had come to see more. Dubuffet went on to collect his work.
Despite this fame, Wilson distrusted galleries. He often sold work cheaply direct to the public while smart dealers charged far more for the same pictures.
Did Scottie Wilson do commercial work?
Yes, unusually for an outsider artist. He was commissioned by Royal Worcester to decorate a range of tableware, bringing his birds and fish into ordinary homes. He lived simply in lodgings in Kilburn, north-west London, and never married. He died in London in 1972.
Where can you see Scottie Wilson's work?
- National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh.
- Aberdeen Art Gallery, which calls him Scotland's most famous outsider artist.
- The Whitworth, Manchester, in the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection.
- Tate, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Not everything is on display at once, so check with the museum before you visit.
Is Scottie Wilson really an outsider artist?
He fits the classic pattern: self-taught, late-starting, working class, with a private visual language. But he was also an energetic self-promoter who exhibited, sold and accepted commissions. He shows how the outsider label can sit uneasily on real lives. See the labels debate.
Key dates
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1888–1891 | Born Louis Freeman in Glasgow (sources differ on the year) |
| 1914–1918 | Serves with the Scottish Rifles in the First World War |
| 1930s | Runs a second-hand shop in Toronto and begins drawing at about 44 |
| 1945 | Moves to London |
| Early 1950s | Visits France at Jean Dubuffet's invitation and meets Picasso |
| 1972 | Dies in London |
| 1979 | Shown in the Hayward Gallery's Outsiders exhibition |
Where to go next
Meet the other British outsider artists, or read about Madge Gill, his great East London contemporary.
Sources and further reading
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