James Cowie (artist)

For other people named James Cowie, see James Cowie.

James Cowie
Born	(1886-05-16)16 May 1886 Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire
Died	Edinburgh
Nationality	British
Education	Aberdeen University Glasgow School of Art
Known for	Painting, drawing

James Cowie RSA (16 May 1886 - 18 April 1956) was a Scottish painter. The quality of his portrait paintings and his strong linear style made him among the most individual Scottish painters of the 1920s and 1930s. His work displayed meticulous draughtsmanship which was based on his studies of the Old Masters and his use of many preparatory drawings.

Life and work

Cowie was born on a farm in Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire. After attending Fraserburgh Academy he studied English Literature at Aberdeen University but failed to graduate, and took a teaching position at Fraserburgh Academy. He resigned this post to enroll at the Glasgow School of Art, where he completed his Diploma in two years between 1912 and 1914. During the First World War Cowie registered as a conscientious objector, accepting call-up into the Non-Combatant Corps. Cowie taught art at Bellshill Academy near Glasgow for almost twenty years whilst continuing to paint, often producing portraits of his students based on detailed preparatory sketches done in pencil or watercolour.

Cowie held his first solo exhibition at the McLellan Galleries in Glasgow in 1935 and the same year he took the post of Head of Painting at Gray's School of Art. In 1937 Cowie became the warden of the Patrick Allan Fraser School of Art at Hospitalfield House. Cowie produced some of his finest work at Hospitalfield and also taught at the annual summer school there. He painted a number of group portraits of the other artists and students at Hospitalfield. Among his pupils were Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde, Robert Henderson Blyth and Joan Eardley. In October 1941 Cowie was commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee to produce a portrait of a Scottish Civil Defence worker. Throughout the 1940s Cowie developed an interest in Surrealism and began to experiment with perspective in his works. In 1948 the University of Edinburgh awarded Cowie an honourary degree. A 1950 commission to paint a mural for the Usher Hall came to nothing. In 1952 Cowie suffered a severe stroke from which he never fully recovered.

In 1957 a memorial exhibition to Cowie was organised by the Scottish Committee of the Arts Council.

Memberships

• 1936 Associate, Royal Scottish Academy
• 1943 Member, Royal Scottish Academy
• 1948 Secretary, Royal Scottish Academy

External links

• Paintings by James Cowie at the Art UK site