Bet Low

Bet Low (28 December 1924 – 2 December 2007) was a Scottish figurative and landscape painter, notable as one of the Glasgow Girls, and as a co-founder of the Clyde Group.

Life

Born in Gourock, Bet Low grew up by the Clyde Estuary in poor circumstances, influenced by the stark contrast between Glasgow's industrial areas and the surrounding Scottish countryside.

Low married, and later divorced, the painter Tom MacDonald. With her family, she regularly visited Hoy in Orkney, where the light and landscape provided fresh inspiration for her work. She studied to become a teacher at Jordanhill College from 1945 to 1946 but did not complete her training after becoming interested in the theatre. Low's early figurative work was influenced by German Expressionism, and frequently depicted post-war Glasgow settings, characters, and refugees.

A retrospective of Low's work was presented in 1986 at the Third Eye Centre in Glasgow and at the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness.