FOURTEEN GLASGOW ARTISTS
FOURTEEN GLASGOW ARTISTS 7 - 31 January 2015
Left: Glasgow School of Art Front Cover: Alasdair Gray, Carole Gibbons’ Mother, blue ballpoint pen, 31.8 x 47 cms
John Byrne Robert Colquhoun George Devlin David Donaldson Pat Douthwaite Joan Eardley JD Fergusson Archie Forrest Alasdair Gray Robert Henderson Blyth Peter Howson James Morrison Duncan Shanks Geoff Uglow
Introduction Five Turner Prize winners since 1996 have been graduates of Glasgow School of Art but this tradition of nurturing world-class artists has been prevalent for many decades. The city has long been known as a hub of creativity so to coincide with our centenary exhibition of William Crosbie we present a modest exhibition, which celebrates the work of a selection of Scottish Gallery artists active in Glasgow from JD Fergusson who moved to the city with Margaret Morris in 1939 to Cornish-born artist Geoff Uglow who graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2000.
robert henderson blyth, rsa, rsw (1919-1970)
Robert Henderson Blyth was born and educated in Glasgow, and he attended Glasgow School of Art from 1934 to 1939. After a post-graduate year at Hospitalfield, near Arbroath, he served in the Second World War. He was on the staff of Edinburgh College of Art from 1946 to 1954 and afterwards moved to Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen. Henderson Blyth's painting moved through distinct phases from early work where line and structure were uppermost in his mind to his late work where form dissolves into colour.
Right: Robert Henderson Blyth, Fettercairn Landscape, watercolour, 57 x 62 cms
john byrne, rsa (b.1940)
In 1958 Byrne was accepted for the First Year General Course at Glasgow School of Art- specialising in Drawing & Painting in his Third Year under the then Head of Painting, Willie Armour. The school still had life drawing, painting and still life classes at their core and John Byrne was considered a star pupil. In his final year at GSA he won the Bellahousten Award, the school's most prestigious painting prize, and travelled to Italy, returning some six months later, a highly accomplished and confident young artist. Photo Credit: David Eustace
John Byrne Two Jugs gouache on paper, 15 x 21.8 cms
robert colquhoun (1914-1962)
Colquhoun won a scholarship to Glasgow School of Art in 1933 where he studied under Hugh Crawford and Ian Fleming . It was shortly after enrolling that he met Robert MacBryde, a fellow Glasgow graduate with whom he has become inextricably linked. Colquhoun won a travelling scholarship from the art school in his final year, enabling both artists to travel to Europe.
Robert Colquhoun Behind Santa Maria Nuova in Foro Romano, 1939 pen & ink drawing, 21 x 27 cms
Robert Colquhoun Mysterious Figures, 1960 lithograph in two colours, 40.5 x 54 cms (edition of 50)
Robert Colquhoun Puppet Show, 1951 lithograph in black & white, 35.5 x 37 cms
george devlin, rsw, rws, frsa, rba, roi (1937-2014)
George Devlin studied at Glasgow School of Art 1955-1960 where he won the premier awards and top national scholarships from the Royal Scottish Academy. He then lived and worked in West Africa after crossing the Sahara. On returning to Glasgow in 1962, he taught composition in the Painting School of GSA. In 1964 he was elected RSW, awarded major Arts Council award 1968 before setting up his own painting school in 1969. Right: George Devlin, Port Vendres, oil on canvas, 81 x 86 cms
George Devlin Night Vaporetto pastel, 21.5 x 29 cms
George Devlin Towards Staffa pastel, 21.5 x 29 cms
david donaldson, rsa (1916-1996)
David Donaldson was born in Lanarkshire and studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1932 to 1937. He was awarded a Travelling Scholarship to Florence and Paris which he fitted in around his part-time teaching at GSA 1938-44. He took on a full-time position from 1944 and became the highly influencial Head of Drawing and Painting there from 1968. Donaldson was appointed Her Majesty's Painter and Limner in Scotland from 1977 until his death in 1996. Above: David Donaldson, Self Portrait in Oil (Not for Sale). Credit: Strathclyde Univeristy Archive Right: David Donaldson, Buisson, Provence, oil on canvas, 96.5 x 91.5 cms
pat douthwaite (1934-2002)
Pat Douthwaite was born in Glasgow in 1934. She began to study mime and modern dance with Margaret Morris, whose husband, J. D. Fergusson, encouraged her to paint. This important influence apart, she was self-taught. Barely out of her teens, Douthwaite moved to Suffolk where Glasgow grauates Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde and William Crozier were also resident.
Pat Douthwaite Bentley, c.1977 coloured pastel, 52.5 x 73.5 cms
Pat Douthwaite Bad Hair Day, c.1988 pastel & collage. 65.5 x 50 cms
Pat Douthwaite An Indian Man I, 1985 pastel, 57.5 x 78.5 cms
joan eardley, rsa (1921-1963)
Joan Eardley studied at Glasgow School of Art, enrolling in 1940. Several years after graduating she returned to the city, setting up a studio in Glasgow, close to the deprived Townhead area, where she became known for her drawings and paintings of deprived city children, often playing in the streets in ragged clothes. She was often to be seen transporting her easel and paints around Glasgow in an old pram. Photo Credit: Audrey Walker
Joan Eardley Wheat, c.1962 oil on board, 45.7 x 50.8 cms
Joan Eardley Red Roofs, Trees & Cows, 1951 mixed media on paper, 39 x 48 cms
Joan Eardley Child Study, c.1961 mixed media on paper, 22 x 20 cms
j.d. fergusson, rba (1874-1961)
Scottish Colourist, J.D. Fergusson settled in Glasgow in 1939 with Margaret Morris, which he believed was the most Celtic city in Scotland. ‘Fergus’ and ‘Meg’, as the couple were affectionately known, played a vital part in the renaissance of the arts in the city, including as founder members of the exhibiting and discussion groups the New Art Club in 1940 and the New Scottish Group in 1942. Photograph: Fergusson in his Clouston Street Studio in Glasgow, 1952
JD Fergusson Scotch Mist, Peebles, c.1905 oil on panel, 19 x 24 cms
JD Fergusson The Artist’s Mother conté, 13.2 x 11.5 cms
JD Fergusson Luxembourg Gardens, 1905 conté, 13.2 x 11.5 cms
JD Fergusson View from the Luxembourg Gardens, 1905 contĂŠ, 11.5 x 13.2 cms
JD Fergusson Man with Bowler Hat & Glasses, c.1907 charcoal, 21 x 12.5 cms
archie forrest, rgi (b.1950)
Archie Forrest was born in Glasgow in 1950. He attended Glasgow School of Art between 1969 and 1973 prior to becoming a tutor there for seven years. In 1985, he gave up his teaching so that he could devote his time to painting. He was elected a Member of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts in 1988 and has been a regular exhibitor there since 1975. Photograph: Archie Forrest in his Studio by David Eustace Right: Archie Forrest, Barges, Seurre, Burgundy, oil on linen, 60 x 60 cms
alasdair gray (b.1934)
He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957, and taught there from 1958 to 1962. It was as a student that he first began what would become his acclaimed novel Lanark. After his graduation, Gray worked in Glasgow as a scene and portrait painter, as well as an independent artist and writer. Between 1972 and 1974, he participated in a writing group organised by Philip Hobsbaum, which also included James Kelman, Liz Lochhead, Tom Leonard, Aonghas MacNeacail and Jeff Torrington. From 1977 to 1979, he was Writer in Residence at Glasgow University. In 2001, he became, with Tom Leonard and James Kelman, joint Professor of the Creative Writing programme at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities. Right: Alasdair Gray, Carole Gibbons & Douglas Abercrombie, c.1959, blue ballpoint pen on paper, 42 x 54.5 cms
Alasdair Gray Carole Gibbons’ Mother blue ballpoint pen on paper, 31.8 x 47 cms
Alasdair Gray Mike Gill Standing with Cigarette & Tumbler black ink on brown paper, 54.6 x 38.1 cms
Peter howson, obe (b.1958)
Howson moved to Scotland as a child and enrolled in the Glasgow School of Art in 1975. He burst into the limelight during the 1980s, as part of the much acclaimed New Glasgow Group, his striking images of working class struggles explored themes of violence, physicality and inner turmoil. These concepts he was to develop further during his role as official war artist to the British Forces in Bosnia in 1993. Peter’s work is collected throughout the world by many famous and faithful patrons. Throughout his career Peter has been honoured for his services to the visual arts; first, with a Doctors of Letters Honoras Causa from the University of Strathclyde, and most recently, with an OBE. In 2012, Peter was commissioned by St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow to paint the newly instated Saint of the Catholic Church, John Ogilvie to commemorate the life of Ogilvie and to celebrate the monumental renovation of the building itself.
Peter Howson The Docker, 1985 pastel, 40 x 31 cms
Peter Howson Flatland, 2007 ink on paper, 29 x 19.5 cms
Peter Howson Dante’s Vision, 2009 pen on paper, 20.5 x 14 cms
james morrison, rsa, rsw (b.1932)
James Morrison (b. 1932) was born in Glasgow and attended Glasgow School of Art from 1950 to 1954 where he counted David Donaldson amongst his influential teachers. As early as 1952 he had begun sketching and painting the buildings and character of post-war Victorian Glasgow. He frequently painted Townhead, the South Side and the West End, painting ‘Half Demolished Tenements’ in 1964. “Morrison’s paintings of Glasgow tend to fall into one of two types. They are often either images of dereliction and ruin or they give to their subjects a faded elegance, which seems to aspire to something that is past or passing.” Professor John Morrison, 2013.
James Morrison Half Demolished Tenements, 1964 oil on canvas, 32.5 x 154 cms
James Morrison Break in the Clouds, 25.i.2014 oil on board, 30 x 38 cms
James Morrison The Lurgies, 15.ii.2014 oil on board, 15 x 28 cms
Duncan shanks, rsa, rsw, rgi (b.1937)
Duncan Shanks studied at Glasgow School of Art in the early 1950s and after graduating became a part-time lecturer at the School, where he taught until 1979. He paints landscape with an emotional commitment which points out to us the beauty, the power and grandeur of the so-called ‘lowland’ hills, the moors and glens of the Clyde Valley where he has lived for nigh on fifty years. In all weathers he can be found on Tinto or its neighbours making the sketches that he transforms over time into visceral paintings in the studio.
Duncan Shanks Gannet, 1995 acrylic & collage on paper, 25.5 x 21.5 cms
Duncan Shanks The Edge of the Field, 2000 acrylic on paper, 21.5 x 25.5 cms
Duncan Shanks Bird and Gate, 1998 acrylic on paper, 22.5 x 21.5 cms
geoff uglow (b.1978)
Geoff Uglow is one of the greatest painting talents to emerge from Glasgow School of Art in recent years, graduating in 2000. His regular visits as a student to the roof of Glasgow Art School showed his early commitment to painting his immediate environment. Since then he has been on a continuous search for knowledge, discovery and understanding of his surroundings; translating the interaction between himself, the subject and his medium into pure pigment.
Geoff Uglow Lapis XV, 2013 oil on board, 31 x 26 cms