*Louise Millar Watt (b.1963) group of sketches on paper, horses and figures

The Estate of Mary Millar Watt (1924-2023) 

A collection of works from three generations of artists of the Millar Watt family and their circle.

John Millar Watt (1895-1975) was born in Greenock, Scotland and after initial artistic training he was apprenticed to an advertising agency, just off Fleet Street, London. After long days of work, his evening studies were sponsored, at Westminster School of Art, a training he considered “priceless". Work and studies were interrupted by the First World War, where he served with the Essex Regiment and Artist’s Rifles. His health was affected by his near-misses with mustard gas attacks, for the rest of his life.

In 1923, Millar Watt moved to Dedham with his wife and fellow artist Amy Watt. By this time he was already well known as a cartoon strip artist. He created his Daily Sketch strip 'Pop' in 1921 and it ran daily for the following three decades. The strip soon appeared six days per week by popular demand. Millar tried to terminate this arrangement in the late 30s, but was persuaded that it was needed to boost the war effort and morale. King George and Churchill were subsequently identified as fans. Much has been written about his innovation in the development of the strip cartoon but he also produced a significant body of other illustration work for periodicals - he always illustrated for children’s reading - and adverting material for companies including Sainsbury’s, Shell, Truman's Ale, Sunblest bread and Cherry Blossom shoe polish. In his very limited spare time, he painted wonderful post-impressionist landscapes, many of them in company with his friend Alfred Munnings.

In Dedham, the two artists would often drive out on sketching trips into the East Anglian countryside in Millar’s car - Munnings being blind in one eye - and the Munnings’ were frequent guests at the Watts' table, not least because Amy - Millar's artist-wife - was an excellent cook, both happenstances of home life that Millar turned upside down and lampooned in the POP strip. In 1946, when the Daily Sketch published its anniversary edition to commemorate 25 years of the 'Pop' cartoon, Munnings was one of the many artists to contribute, writing: ‘I have the greatest admiration for Millar Watt both as an artist and a man. I have known him for years. Some of my happiest days have been out sketching with him in Suffolk.’

Amy Watt was educated at Plymouth School of Art and later St Martin’s where she met Millar Watt. She painted predominantly landscape and floral still lives, which she exhibited widely included at the Paris Salon and almost annually at the Royal Academy summer exhibitions between 1929-1953. Her portrait work, the vast majority of which remained a personal record, is something of a hidden gem. The family settled in St Ives for a period extending from the late 30s until after the war. In St Ives, Amy Watt painted wonderfully evocative harbour scenes and the family became well known both in and around the thriving artistic community, including a friendship with the potter Bernard Leach. Millar himself served for a decade on the committee of the St Ives Society of Artists and suggested the former Mariner’s Chapel as an exhibition space, which became a reality.

In the late 50s the family returned to London, where Mary their daughter went to the RA Schools, and the family was also a shorter distance from their son George at Kings School Canterbury. Amy’s flowerpieces flourished and regularly hung on the line at the RA Summer Shows. Amy also exhibited at the Paris Salon where her exhibits earned her Honourable Mention. After Amy’s early death, Millar and his daughter Mary settled in Lavenham, Suffolk, a fine medieval village that Millar Watt had recalled from sketching trips with Munnings to the horse fairs that were still held in the Market Place. He bought the Georgian fronted Fir Tree House in Church Street, that became the family home for the next three decades.

Mary Millar Watt showed an early and prodigious artistic talent and undertook a five year diploma at The Royal Academy Schools, winning various accolades including the David Murray scholarship for landscape. She had a long and fruitful career as an artist, exhibiting broadly from her first exhibits with the STISA aged sixteen and at one time producing a large body of botanical illustration work for Kew Gardens and much portrait work. From London she regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the Society of Women Artists and the Royal Society of Miniaturists. Amongst many accomplishments she will be remembered locally for the original skyscape of the oval ceiling and classical frieze of the auditorium in the Georgian Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds.

The present collection, which is the first offering of a larger collection of works, demonstrates the quality and breadth of a local artistic dynasty. A dynasty which continues to thrive over a century after John Millar Watt created Pop

For further details see the excellent family website: https://www.wattpop.com/amy-watt