William Oliphant Hutchison [also known as Sir William Oliphant Hutchison] was born in Kircaldy, Scotland on 2 July 1889 and studied under Edward A. Walton at Edinburgh College of Art from 1909 to 1912 [1].

After leaving Edinburgh College of Art he embarked on a career as a painter, primarily of portraits and landscapes. During World War he served in the Royal Garrison Artillery in in Malta and in France, where he was badly wounded. Following the war he returned to Edinburgh where he remained until 1921 when he moved to London. In 1929 he purchased an old vicarage near Wickham Market in Suffolk and over the next three years spent time in both Suffolk and London. In 1932 he was appointed Director of Glasgow School of Art, a position he held until his retirement in 1943. He then moved back to Edinburgh. In 1953 he returned to London, where he continued to live for the rest of his life.

Hutchison exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh virtually every year from 1911 to 1970. He also exhibited at Barbizon House, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Royal Society of British Artists, and International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in London: Royal Glasgow Institute of the the Fine Arts; the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; and at the Paris Salon. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy (ARSA) in 1937, and a full academician in 1943. He was also elected a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1948. He was President of the Royal Scottish Academy from 1950 to 1959. He was also President of The Glasgow Art Club from 1941 to 1943; Vice-president of The Scottish Modern Arts Association from 1952 to 1957; and President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters from 1965. He was knighted for his services to art in 1953.

Notable among the people whose portraits Hutchison painted were Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, and the writer Dorothy L. Sayers.

He died at his home, 30 Oakwood Court, Kensington, London, on 5 February 1970
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[1] The entry on Hutchison in the Dictionary of National Biography implies that he did not enter Edinburgh College of Art until 1911, however, this appears to be inaccurate. See: Glasgow School of Art. Papers of William Oliphant Hutchison.

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