Born in Arbroath in 1929, Littlejohn studied Fine Art at Dundee College of Art, before becoming Lecturer in (and then Head of) Fine Art at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, retiring in 1991. In 2006, the late William Littlejohn left the entire contents of his studio to the Royal Scottish Academy. As well as numerous oils, watercolours and drawings there is also a wealth of sketch-books, notebooks and objects – some of which appear in the works. William Littlejohn was elected as a member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1973, the Royal Glasgow Institute in 1989 and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1990. He has had several one man exhibitions both in Scotland and England and his paintings are in several private and public collections including H.M. The Queen, Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, Royal Bank of Scotland and Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities.