Sir James Guthrie PPRSA (10 June 1859 – 6 September 1930) was a Scottish painter, associated with the Glasgow Boys. He is best known in his own lifetime for his portraiture, although today more generally regarded as a painter of Scottish Realism.
Sir James Guthrie PPRSA (10 June 1859 – 6 September 1930) was a Scottish painter, associated with the Glasgow Boys. He is best known in his own lifetime for his portraiture, although today more generally regarded as a painter of Scottish Realism.
Guthrie was born in Greenock, the youngest son of the Rev. John Guthrie, a minister of the Evangelical Union church, [2] and Anne Orr. He originally enrolled at Glasgow University to study law, but in 1877 abandoned this in favour of painting. Unlike many of his contemporaries he did not study in Paris, being mostly self-taught, although he was mentored for a short time by James Drummond in Glasgow and then John Pettie in London. [3] In 1879, he moved to London to study painting. during the summer he painted at rural locations, often Rosneath and Helensburgh but mostly at Cockburnspath. [4] Guthrie spent some time[ when? ] with his friend Edward Arthur Walton living in Cheyne Walk in Chelsea [5]
Guthrie lived most of his life in the Scottish Borders, since 1883 in Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, where he painted some of his most important works, including A Hind's Daughter (1883), and Schoolmates (1884). [6] He was strongly influenced by the French Realists, especially Jules Bastien-Lepage, and was associated with the Glasgow Boys. [3]
In 1888, he was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy , and a full member in 1892. In November 1902 he was unanimously elected to succeed Sir George Reid as RSA president, [7] and he moved with his family from Glasgow to Edinburgh. [4] In 1903, he was knighted. A member of Glasgow Art Club Guthrie exhibited often at the club's annual exhibitions. [8] [9]
In 1919, Guthrie was commissioned by South African financier Sir Abraham Bailey, 1st Baronet to paint a group portrait of 17 politicians and statesmen of Britain and its allies who held office during the First World War. The painting, Statesmen of World War I , was completed in 1930, shortly before Guthrie's death. The painting was donated to the National Portrait Gallery, London. Guthrie's 17 preparatory oil studies were donated to Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
In 1920, the King of Belgium conferred Guthrie with the Cross of Commander of the Order of the Crown. [3] [10]
In 1921, he joined the newly-formed Society of Graphic Art, and exhibited with them in 1921.
In the late 1880s Guthrie met Helen Newton Whitelaw, a wealthy widow at her family home, Rowmore, in Rhu, Dunbartonshire. They married in 1897 and in 1899 their son Thomas Whitelaw Boyd Guthrie was born in Chelsea, London. On October 20, 1912 she died of cancer at the age of 52. [4]
Guthrie died in the house of his retiral in 1930. [3] His grave in Rhu was designed by the architect Alexander Nisbet Paterson. [4]
By 1885, Guthrie was a reputable portrait painter and in later life he virtually abandoned other subjects. He was commissioned by many of the rich and famous of his day to paint their portraits. The list is quite impressive:
Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland.
Helensburgh is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local government reorganisation in 1996.
George Paul Chalmers was a Scottish landscape, marine, interior and portrait painter.
The Glasgow School was a circle of influential artists and designers that began to coalesce in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1870s, and flourished from the 1890s to around 1910. Representative groups included The Four, the Glasgow Girls and the Glasgow Boys. Part of the international Art Nouveau movement, they were responsible for creating the distinctive Glasgow Style.
Ken Currie is a Scottish artist and a graduate of Glasgow School of Art (1978–1983). Ken grew up in industrial Glasgow. This has had a significant influence on his early works. In the 1980s Currie produced a series of works that romanticised Red Clydeside depicting heroic Dockworkers, Shop-stewards and urban areas along the River Clyde. These works were also in response to then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's policies that he believed were the greatest threat to culture of labour.
Sir David Young Cameron was a Scottish painter and, with greater success, etcher, mostly of townscapes and landscapes in both cases. He was a leading figure in the final decades of the Etching Revival.
Scottish art is the body of visual art made in what is now Scotland, or about Scottish subjects, since prehistoric times. It forms a distinctive tradition within European art, but the political union with England has led its partial subsumation in British art.
Edward Arthur Walton was a Scottish painter of landscapes and portraits, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting.
James Paterson PRSW RSA RWS, was a Scottish landscape and portrait painter associated with The Glasgow Boys movement of artists. He is best known for his landscape paintings of Dumfriesshire, where he lived, at Moniaive from 1885 to 1905.
Thomas Corsan Morton (1859–1928) was a Scottish artist, known as one of the Glasgow Boys.
Harrington Mann was a Scottish portrait artist and decorative painter. He was a member of the Glasgow Boys movement in the 1880s.
Sir Herbert James Gunn RA RP was a Scottish landscape and portrait painter.
Scottish art in the nineteenth century is the body of visual art made in Scotland, by Scots, or about Scottish subjects. This period saw the increasing professionalisation and organisation of art in Scotland. Major institutions founded in this period included the Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy of Art, the National Gallery of Scotland, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Glasgow Institute. Art education in Edinburgh focused on the Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh. Glasgow School of Art was founded in 1845 and Grays School of Art in Aberdeen in 1885.
Portrait painting in Scotland includes all forms of painted portraiture in Scotland, from its beginnings in the early sixteenth century until the present day. The origins of the tradition of portrait painting in Scotland are in the Renaissance, particularly through contacts with the Netherlands. The first portrait of a named person that survives is that of Archbishop William Elphinstone, probably painted by a Scottish artist using Flemish techniques around 1505. Around the same period Scottish monarchs turned to the recording of royal likenesses in panel portraits, painted in oils on wood. The tradition of royal portrait painting in Scotland was probably disrupted by the minorities and regencies it underwent for much of the sixteenth century. It began to flourish after the Reformation, with paintings of royal figures and nobles by Netherlands artists Hans Eworth, Arnold Bronckorst and Adrian Vanson. A specific type of Scottish picture from this era was the "vendetta portrait", designed to keep alive the memory of an atrocity. The Union of Crowns in 1603 removed a major source of artistic patronage in Scotland as James VI and his court moved to London. The result has been seen as a shift "from crown to castle", as the nobility and local lairds became the major sources of patronage.
Alexander Carse was a Scottish painter known for his scenes of Scottish life. His works include a large canvas of George IV's visit to Leith and three early paintings of football matches.
Statesmen of World War I is an oil on canvas painting by Sir James Guthrie, completed in 1930, shortly before Guthrie's death. It was commissioned by South African financier Sir Abraham Bailey, 1st Baronet to commemorate the politicians and statesmen of Britain and its Dominions who held office during the First World War. It was donated to the National Portrait Gallery in 1930, shortly after it was completed.
James Whitelaw Hamilton (1860–1932) RSA, RSW was a Scottish artist, member of the Glasgow School, of the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) and of the New English Art Club.
Sir James Lewis Caw LLD HRSA was a Scottish art historian, critic and gallery director. He argued for the existence of an independent and free-standing "Scottish school of painting" arising in the second half of the 19th century.
Margaret Hamilton was a Scottish artist known for her paintings and embroidery work.
Alexander Nisbet Paterson ARIBA PRIAS (1862–1947) was a Scottish architect, mainly working in the Arts and Crafts style. He was president of the Royal Institute of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).
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