Background
Cowie was born on a farm in Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire.
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James Cowie
Edit ProfileEducation
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.
Career
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. 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 Artist 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 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. 1936 Associate, Royal Scottish Academy
1943 Member, Royal Scottish Academy
1948 Secretary, Royal Scottish Academy.
Membership
1936 Associate, Royal Scottish Academy
1943 Member, Royal Scottish Academy
1948 Secretary, Royal Scottish Academy.
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Born
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Died
April 18, 1956 (aged 70) -
Nationality
Scottish