Born in Kirkwall, Orkney, Stanley Cursiter was one of Scotland's most prolific twentieth-century painters as well as being a writer and curator. He was one of the first students of the newly-opened Edinburgh College of Art and played an important role in introducing Post-Impressionism and Futurism to Scotland. He was appointed Director of the National Galleries of Scotland in 1930 and King's Limner for Scotland in 1948. Cursiter initiated the campaign to create a Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.