American painter, illustrator, and philosopher. MacGilvary graduated from Davidson College, then studied at the University of California, the Mark Hopkins Institute in San Francisco, and the Académie Julian in Paris. He later taught painting at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburg (1921-1943). His paintings contain Symbolist and philosophical elements, such as the ideas of evolution, the "desire of the human race to survive," the impermanence of life, and future existence. He is considered a member of the American Realist and Tonalist movements. He is best known for his painting "Birth of an Idea." Valedictorian of Davidson College in 1896. Member of the faculty of Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University).