About the Artist

Born in Kirkintilloch 1936. Artist in oil, watercolour and charcoal; also teacher. Educated at Lenzie Academy and Glasgow School of Art 1951-1955 under William Armour and David Donaldson, also in Paris with the painter André Lhote. In 1959 he visited a major exhibition of American expressionism in Brussels which deeply affected him. By 1965 he had adopted a style “using bright colours in witty, obsessively detailed depictions of banal objects”. During the 1970’s he worked on a series of table-top still-lifes of great simplicity with clear reference to 17th century Dutch painting. Taught at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee and was head of painting, Glasgow School of Art from 1981 to 1992. Won Stuart Prize 1957, Latimer Award 1965, Guthrie Award 1968, Maude Gemmell Hutchison Prize (RSA) 1998. Member of Scottish Arts Council 1974-79, SNGMA Trustees Committee 1975-82. Secretary of RSA 1990-91.Participated in exhibition “Seven Dundee Painters” in 1970.

Exhibited regularly at the RSA, Aberdeen Artists Society (AAS) (1) and Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts (GI)(21).

Represented in Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Aberdeen AG, Dundee AG, Lillie AG (Milngavie), Edinburgh City Collection, Hunterian Museum (Glasgow), Glasgow AG, Kirkcaldy AG, Kirkintilloch Museum, Perth AG, Manchester AG, Otis Art Institute (Los Angeles), Olinda Museum (Sao Paulo).

Biography - Dictionary of Scottish Art & Architecture - Peter J M McEwan