Renowned Scottish artist and sculptor George Wyllie dies aged 90

Renowned Scottish artist and sculptor George Wyllie has died after a short illness.

The family of the 90-year-old announced that he had died at Inverclyde Royal Hospital on Tuesday night.

Mr Wyllie had lived in Gourock for more than 50 years and was most famous for his Straw Locomotive and Paper Boat 'social sculptures'.

This year a major retrospective of his work was being held to coincide with his 90th birthday, which was led by the Whysman Festival.

Louise Wyllie, his eldest daughter, spoke about her father’s achievements as an artist and revealed that just months before his death he had attended a party for the festival celebrating his work at the Collins Gallery at Strathclyde University.

She said: "My father was delighted at all the developments which the Friends of George Wyllie have made in the last year in establishing his legacy and he was keen to know what was happening right up to the end.

"He was delighted about the latest news which will see us putting his life and work into the curriculum in Scottish schools and working with skilled shipyard workers in Inverclyde on the creation of giant question marks.

"He was so pleased with the idea of The Whysman Festival which is running throughout 2012 to celebrate his artistic legacy and just a couple of months ago he attended a small pre-opening party for the festival at The Collins Gallery for his archive exhibition, A Life Less Ordinary, I am so glad now that he saw the start of what is a year of celebration. He really did live a life less ordinary. There was no-one else like him and I suspect there never will be."

Arts writer, Jan Patience, chair of the Friends of George Wyllie, added: "George Wyllie was a remarkable artist who reached out beyond the confines of the art gallery scene and connected with real people all over the world through his thought-provoking art. He had the knack of making you ask questions, of not accepting the status quo. His mind was constantly enquiring, and his art was constantly pushing out barriers. That is his legacy."

Mr Wyllie was born in Shettleston, Glasgow, on Hogmanay in 1921. He was known to his family and friends as Ralston, until he decided to become an artist in his late 40s.

Mr Wyllie grew up in the Craigton area of Glasgow and his first job was as an office boy in a shipping company in Govan. He then trained as an engineer with the Post Office before joining the Royal Navy at the beginning of World War Two, during which he visited Hiroshima in the aftermath of the dropping of an atomic bomb on the Japanese city.

After the war he married his wife Daphne, who died in 2004, and worked as a customs and excise officer in Glasgow, Prestwick, and Ireland before settling in Gourock, where his two daughters, Louise and Elaine, were brought up. He left the customs service in 1979, at the age of 58 and began a four-decade long late-flowering career as an artist.

First Minister Alex Salmond paid tribute to Mr Wyllie's life and work. He said: "I am very sad indeed to hear of the death of George Wyllie. He was an extraordinary artist whose work touched the lives of generations of Scots and will be familiar to many generations to come. His Paper Boat and Straw Locomotive were the best known of hundreds of social sculptures that took art out of the gallery and placed it at the heart of communities. His art always raised a smile but usually had a profound underlying message about the importance of skills, community and meaningful work.

“George came late to art after a lifetime as a customs officer and he was very prolific. Like so many other people, I have benefited from his extraordinary output - his though-provoking sculpture garden, The Stones of Scotland, is yards from my office in St Andrew’s House. George was famous for his questioning nature, so much so that the question mark over the years became his trademark. Even as he marked his 90th birthday, the Whysman Festival celebrating his life has played an important part in the celebrations this year for the Year of Creative Scotland. My thoughts are with his family and friends, especially his daughters Louise and Elaine. I hope they take some comfort from knowing how much Scotland feels his loss and how fondly he will be remembered."

The photograph of George Wyllie from his 90th birthday is by Alan Peebles.

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