Painter, draughtsman and stage designer, born in Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire. After education at Moffat Academy, Bain studied art with W Y MacGregor, one of the Glasgow Boys, who introduced him to the work of S J Peploe and J D Fergusson, whose style is sometimes reflected in Bain’s pictures. In the late 1920s Bain went to Paris, where Matisse’s work further influenced him. Bain returned to Glasgow in 1940, working in the shipyards and with Fergusson became involved in the New Scottish Group from its formation in 1942. A further stay of several years in France in the period after World War II put him in touch with Cézannesque influences in contemporary French painting before he settled in Glasgow in 1948. There Fergusson’s wife Margaret Morris commissioned Bain to design the scenery for a dance version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.