Munro Scott Orr was born in Irvine, Scotland in 1874. His father was William Orr, a Glasgow merchant. His elder brother by two years was William Stewart Orr, who also went on to become a popular illustrator and watercolour artist. Munro signed his name ‘Monro’ and is often referred to in publications by this name.
Monro Orr attended Glasgow School of Art, and specialised in illustration. He exhibited works alongside his brother with The Glasgow Society of Artists (Glasgow Arts Club) in 1909.
In a review of the exhibition his draughtsmanship in particular was praised; ‘the drawings are always correct, the lines strong and powerful’. Throughout his career, he exhibited with the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts (RGI), the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW).
Monro Orr regularly worked with London-based publishers George G Harrap & Co. In 1913 he illustrated Stories from the Arabian Nights by Frances Jenkins Olcott. Bookseller commented on his ‘very striking imagination’ as well as stating that ‘His style is at once artistic and individual, and his drawings are all marked by obvious distinction’. In 1921, he illustrated a special edition of Jane Eyre. In 1932, he illustrated an edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales which was republished by Pook Press in 2012, in celebration of illustrators from the ‘Golden Age’ of children’s literature.
In the later years of his life, he moved to Corrie on the Isle of Arran. He lived at Benraven Cottage with his brother Stewart nearby, who lived at Corrie House. Monro Orr died there in 1955.
His work is represented in the collections of The Wellcome Collection, London, Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, Hertfordshire, and The Dick Institute, Scotland.
