James Cowie

James Cowie (16 May 1886 – 18 April 1956) was a Scottish painter and teacher. The quality of his portrait paintings and his strong linear style made him among the most individual Scottish painters of the 1920s and 1930s.

Life and work Cowie was born on a farm in Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire into a family of non-conformist farmers. After attending Fraserburgh Academy he studied English literature at Aberdeen University but failed to graduate. After obtaining a teacher training qualification in drawing, from the United Free Church Training College, he took a teaching position at Fraserburgh Academy in 1909. He resigned this post to enroll at the Glasgow School of Art, where he completed his Diploma in two years between 1912 and 1914.

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. 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, Patrick Hennessy, Robert Henderson Blyth, Waistel Cooper 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. During the conflict he also ran a drawing class at a local Royal Navy base.

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