Alasdair Gray was one of Scotland’s most distinctive talents. A Glaswegian artist and writer, he celebrated his native city in tales that combined fantasy with dark urban realism and in paintings that evoked civic life in vivid detail.
He wrote Lanark, one of the greatest British novels of the 20th century; adorned many of the city’s bars, restaurants and stations with his distinctive murals; and inspired a generation of younger Scottish writers, including Iain Banks and Irvine Welsh.