DUNCAN McLAREN
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:
Duncan McLaren has an honours degree in Geography from Cambridge University. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in London. For a while he wrote a column on contemporary art for The Independent on Sunday and reviewed shows for that paper and for art magazines. For many years he has written about exceptionally creative individuals in the visual arts and literature. He lives in rural Scotland.
PUBLICATION HISTORY:
BOOKS
2015: Evelyn! Rhapsody for an Obsessive Love, Harbour Books
2007: Looking For Enid: The Mysterious and Inventive Life of Enid Blyton. Portobello Books
2002: The Strangled Cry of the Writer-in-Residence, Grizedale Arts
1998: Personal Delivery, Quartet Books
(Reviewing Personal Delivery, David Bowie wrote: 'I kept it for its "chapter at bedtime" value. After a few days I found I'd hit upon what is probably a very obvious thing. That this is a superb little book on how and why artists think the way they do. It's about that process of assimilation, contemplation and, finally, expression, that we all do in some form or another. An excellent book. A call to arms for those who have been cowered by the cult of anti-intellectualism. I mean: "finkin' an' 'at.")
WEBSITES
2026 (begun 2025) Date Painter
2026 (begun 2021): ON KAWARA: I GOT UP, I READ, I WENT, I MET, I PAINTED TODAY'S DATE, I AM STILL ALIVE
2026 (begun 2016): Kate Clayton: We are Going to Live Such Lives
2025 (begun 2012): Evelyn Waugh: Introduction, Investigation, Treasure Trove, Day Trips, Time Travel, Rhapsody
2024 (begun 2017) PEN PALS
2022 (begun 2013): Scenes from the Passion. Unofficial guide to the paintings of George Shaw
2022 (begun 2012): Looking For Enid: Blyton Forever
2018 (begun 2014): Pat is Back
2017 (begun 2010): Visiting Mabel. 101 blogs
2014 (begun 2012): Strange Bundle
2012: Unofficial Guide to Nobson Newtown
JOURNALISM
2022: An Oxford Cartoon. For Valet
2021: Letter in The Spectator in defence of Enid Blyton (Shouldn't really be included here, but I'm proud of it.)
2021: Waugh's Last Hat. For Valet
2016: Feature on Turner prizewinning group Assemble for Newsweek (Never again.)
2015: Feature on The Line of Beauty: The Lovers, 1943 Magazine
2007: Guest-editor for issue 9 of MAP. Contemporary art meets the Scottish Enlightenment
2010-2014: Blog 'Visiting Mabel' for Saga's website.
2005-7: Journey feature for issue 1-8 of MAP
2001-2004: Reviews and features for Art Review.
1999-2003: Features for CVA (later Contemporary Visual Arts, later Contemporary.)
1999-2001: Fortnightly review section for Independent on Sunday (Thank-you, Janet Street Porter.)
1999: Review for Literary Review
1998-99: Weekly column: ‘Public View’ for Independent on Sunday. (Thank-you, Jenny Turner and Isabel Lloyd)
ESSAYS FOR CATALOGUES and ARTISTS' BOOKS
2024: For Heinz Nigg in New York: Up Close. BoD - Books on Demand, Norderstedt.
2016: For Gavin Wade in Upcycle this Book, Bookworks, London.
2011: For Tracey Mackenna and Edwin Janssen in Exhibitions 11, HICA, Dalcrombie.
2008: For Nathalia Edenmont in Still Life, Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm.
2007: For Claudia Zeiske: George MacDonald 1824-1905, Deveron Arts, Huntly.
2006: For Per Huttner in I Am Not A Curator, Chisenhale Gallery, London.
2006: For Laura Ford: Armour Boys, RSA, Edinburgh.
2005: For Louise K. Wilson in A Record of Fear, Commissions East, Cambridge.
2004: For Per Huttner: Per Huttner, Curatorial Mutiny, Stockholm.
2004: For Neal Beggs in Moving Sideways, Le Grand Café, Nantes.
2003: For Roxy Walsh in INFALLIBLE: In Search of the Real George Eliot, ARTicle Press, University of Central England.
2003: For Brian Cyril Griffiths: Mr. Moto Hitches a Ride (No ISBN.)
2003: For Sharon Kivland in Transmission, Sheffield University.
2002: For Gavin Wade in Strike, University of Wolverhampton.
2001: For Bill Drummond in Stay Here and Make Art, Penkiln Burn.
2001: For Simon Wood: Club (No ISBN.)
2001: For Nina Pope in A Public Auction of Private Art Works, Commissions East, Cambridge.
2001: For Neal Beggs in Corridor, CCA, Glasgow.
2000: For five artists graduating from the Glasgow MFA, Red Marauder, Tramway, Glasgow.
2000: For the B.A. Fine Art and Art History course, Goldsmiths College, London. (No ISBN.)
TALKS
2019: On Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop for Chipping Campden Literary Festival.
2015: On Evelyn! For Appledore Literary Festival.
2015: On Evelyn! For Toppings Bookshop, St. Andrews.
2015: ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place’ for Evelyn Waugh Symposium, Leicester University.
2011: On Evelyn! For Richmond Literary Festival.
2011: On Evelyn! for Evelyn Waugh Symposium, Downside College, Somerset.
2009: On art writing, for Edinburgh School of Art.
2009: On art writing for Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen.
2008: On Looking For Enid for a private society in York.
2007: On Looking For Enid for Wigton Book Festival.
2007: On Looking For Enid for the Enid Blyton Society.
2000: On Personal Delivery for Goldsmiths.
TV
2017: Interviewed about Patrick Allan-Fraser for Britain's Lost Masterpieces.
INTERVIEW
2020: Answering questions from Paul Gallagher for FLASHBACK: Everything Old is New Again
ALTERNATIVE BIO:
1957: Born
1969: Read Enid Blyton
1970: Received I GOT UP postcards from On Kawara (I wish)
1975: Read Evelyn Waugh
2007: Publication of Looking For Enid
2015: Publication of Evelyn!
