Malcolm McNair Roberts was an American artist. He studied at the Chicago Art Institute, the University of Washington and in Europe. He was credited as Seattle's first Surrealist and exhibited frequently at the Northwest Annuals at the Seattle Art Museum. He produced paintings in oil and gouache for the WPA as well as lithographs. Roberts utilized elements of the northwest landscape in his surreal compositions, especially coast and shoreline related material such as shells, driftwood and beach detritus. Some of his art reflects his homosexual orientation and he was connected romantically with other male artist's including Morris Graves and Guy Anderson. His later work of the 50's and 60's turned away from Surrealism.