The People of Irvine

Drawn by Irvine-born artist, Andrew Allan; this postcard was published by Millar and Lang Limited, Art Publishers of Glasgow.

Agnes Miller Parker was a prolific and talented illustrator and artist. Trained at The Glasgow School of Art and married to fellow student and artist William McCance; her principal medium was woodcut. She mastered this notoriously difficult method and produced hundreds of superb drawings, many of which are to be found in books such as those by Thomas Hardy and H.E. Bates. For more information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Miller_Parker

Drawn by Irvine-born artist, Andrew Allan; this postcard was published by Millar and Lang Limited, Art Publishers of Glasgow.

Promoting noteworthy people to have been born in Irvine, Scotland, is one of 7 projects which form Clyde Imagineering Volunteer Group's 'rising tide' programme for this Royal and ancient Scottish Burgh. 'clyde by your side', CIVG's community support team, are currently working with National and local partners on a series of projects with which to gain greater recognition for Irvine's daughters and sons (locally, nationally and internationally).

This is an example of a lithographic process which reproduces the effect of crayon. Allan used this technique many times in the work which he produced for Millar & Lang, Art Publishers, Glasgow.

Munro Scott Orr, born in Irvine's High Street in October of 1874, studied at The Glasgow School of Art between 1894 and 1900 (he would have witnessed the construction of the Mackintosh building and would have been among its first occupants). In the first half of the 20th Century, Orr produced a prodigious and varied range of book illustrations: from children's books, such as The Arabian Nights, Grim Fairy Tales and Treasure Islands; to the works of Robert Burns; and the works of Charlotte and Emily Bronte (Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, respectively).