The People of Irvine

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

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.

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

This lithographic artist was born in Irvine's Halfway (now called Montgomery Street), famously also the thoroughfare on which another famous son, poet, journalist and social reformer, James Montgomery, also saw the first light of day. Allan trained at The Glasgow School of Art from 1882 until 1896. He is mainly remembered for his landscape studies, which work is highly regarded, The painting in the poster is called 'Thistledown' and is part of the Glasgow Museums Collection.

This is currently being used as a means by which to promote Clyde Imagineering's 6 year long biographical project.

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).