After
graduating Nita was employed by Stanley T. Weston and Co. Ltd. a
small private company which designed and handcrafted lamp and candle shades. It
was owned by Mr Stanley Weston who lived in Bearsden next to the golf
course. Nita along with a fellow graduate, Christine Cramond, who recommended Nita to the
manageress, were employed to paint designs onto the shades in their studio
workshop from morning till evening. Although the work involved use of their
painting skills there was little of their own design input. Consequently after
several months Nita left the position in order to train as a war nurse.1
Nita's
school friend Dorothea Hodge married at this time and became Dorothea
Merrydrew. Dorothea moved to Cambridge since her husband took up an appointment
as a consultant at Addenbrokes hospital. Nita and Dorothea kept in touch and
Nita travelled to Cambridge to stay with them.2
War
Service 1944 Nursing the War-Wounded
Shortly after Christmas Nita began her war service. She became
a member of the British Red Cross Society and trained as a nurse with
Detachment No.28 Glasgow starting on January 10th 1944.3 Her nursing duties were carried
out at Stonehouse, Larbert and Mearnskirk Hospitals. This
choice of service was the best suited to Nita's personality, quiet, reserved
and practical, which enabled her to carry out caring and domestic duties which
she had undertaken at home to help her family. She resided in hospital
staff accommodation since all these hospitals were too far to travel daily and
was paid £2 a week, around half the salary of those who lived at home.
Dropped in at the deep end on her first night she was exposed to a rude
awakening. Suddenly she was startled by the skittering of hoards of mice
across her counterpane. Terrified she held her bedclothes tightly around her
neck for the reminder of the night till morning. During daytime not all
went smoothly either. As she developed her nursing skills occasionally
she fell prey to the wrath of the matron. Uneasy when matron approached
her anxiety resulted in more than a few mishaps. The crashing sound of trays of
crockery dropping on the tiled floor is a lasting memory but perhaps the most
enduring and embarrassing was the abandoning of a patient on his bedpan for an hour.
The poor chap was only discovered when all the curtains were opened to reveal a
very upper class outraged officer. On account of her good looks, her tall
stature, blond hair and refined manner she had been chosen to attend the
officer's ward. Subsequently she was given a severe dressing down and
summarily demoted to the less genteel ward of infantry soldiers where her
sensitivities were frequently injured. In her defence the whole affair,
entirely unintended on Nita's part, was the result of long hours of overwork
and under staffing which was typical of many workplaces during the war.
The long hospital corridors were freezing cold with only two small paraffin
heaters in the winter. Understandably she was most unimpressed by the uncouth
behaviour of the soldiers. In Stonehouse Hospital she remembers clearly
part of their routine before going out for some relaxation was to go down
to the basement store and polish their shoes on the sheets due for laundering.
By 1945 her now elderly father worked long hours in the office, her
sister was nursing her first child with her husband away at war and all were
still grieving for their only son and brother. Nita returned home for a while
to support them. Meanwhile she helped fulfil her natural creativity by carrying
out some handicraft such as remodelling all the weary Victorian blinds,
painting and decorating small areas of her parent's home and knitting socks for
soldiers. 4
The following weeks and months evolved into three years and like most
young people at the time she alleviated boredom by visiting friends and
returning home on leave to her parents and new young nephew Tom whom she
adored. Her nursing service eventually came to an end in March 1947. It was now
time to move on. With little time for painting during this period she was
ready to start again.
Hospitalfield House - April to September 1947
By now it
was the first days of spring 1947, winter was over and having completed her war
service Nita was desperate to get back to painting. She met up with
former students, one of whom, Alexander M. Young, encouraged her to apply for a
scholarship at Hospitalfield House. Alex had attended Hospitalfield and
studied under James Cowie in 1946. While studying at art school Alex had
been called up three weeks before completing his diploma in 1941, however W.O
Hutchison the school director applied for a short extension allowing him
to complete his course. Alex had been a prisoner of war in Japan and
returned to art school to study for a postgraduate diploma in 1947. 5
He gained a prestigious prize, 'The Haldane Travelling Scholarship'
in 1948. 6 Following Alex's recommendations Nita
applied to the Head of Drawing and Painting, Hugh Adam Crawford, and after
being sanctioned by the new Director Douglas Percy Bliss,
was put forward and accepted to attend Hospitalfield House in April 1947.
The house
itself is one of the most stunning country houses in Scotland, in the gothic
style, with features from the arts and crafts movement. Its origins lie
in the 1200's when it was founded as a hospice by the monks from Arbroath
Abbey. Patrick Allan acquired the estate through
marriage to the daughter of the Fraser family, Elizabeth Fraser. The son
of a wealthy weaver merchant from Arbroath, he studied art in Edinburgh, Rome
and Paris. During his lifetime he was greatly involved with the art world and
promoted international exchange as President of the British Academy of Art in
Rome. He was a patron and champion of Scottish artists and in 1874 was
elected an HRSA. As his own architect and with his artistic drive and
commercial experience he substantially developed the buildings. Using mainly
local skilled craftsmen along with his estate sandstone quarry, he added a
large wing and converted a large barn into a gallery. Having such a keen
interest in arts, crafts and architecture in the mid 1850's he aimed to create
a stimulating environment for young artists which motivated him to
collect many Victorian sculptures, paintings, and wood-carvings of
international importance. On his death in 1890 he left it in trust as a
residential art school for young men without financial means who wished to
become professional artists, artisans and architects. The trust known as
the 'Patrick Allan-Fraser of Hospitalfield Trust' would pay all their
requirements for food, board and clothing. Hospitalfield House was from
then known as the 'Patrick Allan-Fraser School of Art'. By the mid 1930's
due to lack of funds Hospitalfield became a postgraduate school serving the
four Scottish art schools in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. As world
war two began the future of the school was again in doubt since some art
schools were not able to offer postgraduate diplomas and also young male
students were being called up. To allow Hospitalfield to continue women and
those with no previous art school training were accepted into the fold.
For
excellent photographs of Hospitalfield House see 'The Courier'.
It was into this environment that three young graduates of Glasgow School of Art travelled from Glasgow in April 1947 arriving by train in Arbroath and walking the last mile of their journey. Waiting for them was James Cowie and his second wife Alice.
In 1937
James Cowie RSA took up the position of Warden and art master with Alice as
housekeeper, matron and general manager. James Cowie had spent many years
as a teacher beginning in his youth; a pupil teacher from the age of 14 to 19,
then completing teacher training, taught for 3 years at Fraserburgh Academy
from 1909, leaving to study at GSA (1912), finally took up a position offered
to him before his war service, as art master at Bellshill Academy in
1918. There he taught for 17 years until 1935 and left to take up the
post, head of Drawing and Painting at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, where
he only stayed a year. By the time Nita arrived at Hospitalfield
house in 1947 he had been teaching for 30 years.
First impressions can be telling and Nita thought they looked an odd couple. Whether due to nerves or excitement Nita's overwhelming impulse was to giggle. She remembers them as serious characters, especially Mrs. Cowie, described by Alexander Robbie as a 'busy body and a tartar'. 7 To be fair she had a huge responsibility looking after the estate, housekeeping, and cooking a meal for up to ten persons each day. For ten years she had worked very hard supporting her husband in this venture. After showing the students to their rooms she invited them to the dinner table where the house rules were explained along with the day-to-day routine that the students would be expected to follow. With Nita were her friends William Gallacher and Joan Eardley both from GSA and one other, Margaret Walker, an art student from Liverpool. Hospitalfield also welcomed local students from the surrounding towns and villages to join them in the summer on a more informal basis. They would not require accommodation but did have to register and be accepted as having the required skills, knowledge or artistic potential if they had no previous art school training. This year there were two such students, Alexander Robbie who had studied at the GSA and Angus Neil. Both lived with their families in Arbroath, Alexander living with his parents 8 and Angus with his mother. 9
As the
new recruits settled into a daily routine they explored the estate parklands,
woodlands, fields and beach searching out the best spots for inspiration. They
borrowed bicycles to get about the estate. 10
Or,
alternatively, they remained in the studio sheltering from poor weather and
working on still life or working up outdoor paintings. Cowie had his own dedicated
studio which had been that of Patrick Allan-Fraser while the others had the use
of two further studios larger than Cowie's and also a small detached building
known as the 'dog kennel'. 11
Individually
or in pairs they set up their drawing boards or easels against the view and set
to work. Nita's shyness returned with a vengeance not allowing her to take full
advantage of the opportunities presented. She remained indoors, studio-bound,
not being able to contemplate the notion of anyone watching her attempt to form
something worthwhile. The idea of Mr. Cowie peering into her work was
inhibiting, and peering he did; sometimes into drawings by his own daughter
Barbara, known as Barrie to the students, 'and saw all sorts of wonderful
things', according to Nita. The others, Joan and Margaret sometimes in the company
of Mr and Mrs. Cowie in the good weather would venture to the beach or fields.
Nita still remembers a lonely wait among the trees for their return.
Mr. Cowie
by this time was thought of as an old man by the young students, in fact he was
only 61 years. Alexander Robbie remembers him as 'easy going - a tremendous
smoker'. Cowie regularly walked the short path down to the beach with
him in the morning to visit a kiosk to replace his cigarettes. 12 Kiosks
were set up to cater for visitors as during the summer Arbroath became a busy
holiday town for people from the cities.
James Cowie was very well educated and indeed a complex character. He was interested in literature and poetry from a young age with access to books both at school and home. He began an Honours Degree in English Literature studying for three years at Aberdeen University simultaneously studying to become an art teacher at the United Free Church Training College. Drawn in to art he gave up English Literature to complete his teaching diploma and graduated with a distinction in drawing. Teaching art for two years at Fraserburgh Academy did not satisfy his appetite for his own artistic calling so in 1912 he applied to Francis Newberry to study at Glasgow School of Art. He studied under Greiffenhagen and eventually in 1918 married a fellow art student Nancy Buchanan. It is thought that he may have studied at the Academie Julian in Paris for a short while. Teaming up with Robert Sivell and Archibald McGlashan together they formed the Glasgow Society of Painters and Sculptors. In line with his strong beliefs he was a conscientious objector who joined the Pioneer Corps and in 1918 after he was demobbed he took up his post at Bellshill Academy. Sadly in 1924, after six years of marriage, his beloved Nancy died from tuberculosis leaving him alone with a ten month old baby, Ruth. This tragedy was to affect him for the rest of his life but he did achieve some stability by marrying Alice and having a second daughter Barbara in 1930.
Alice
had been a teacher before she married and Nita believes she was also an
artist's model. She too was clever. She was gregarious and socially ambitious
and wished to mix in certain circles. Thought to be dowdy and old fashioned by
Nita to whom she felt somewhat sympathetic. Alice always wore the same style of
clothing to RSA meetings, a skirt with tunic and frills down the centre.
Mr. Cowie would not be quick to furnish her with fine clothes and in reality
there was only utility clothing for sale. When occasionally parcels arrived for
the students, often little boxes containing three tubes of paint ordered from
the usual suppliers, most likely Aitken Dott, Edinburgh. Mrs. Cowie found it
hard to hide her curiosity. Her temporary residents came from such a wide array
of backgrounds and - who came from which social class? - was a question which
seemed to intrigue her. She did find things out and wisely made use of William
and Angus. William had served an apprenticeship as a painter and decorator in
Paisley from the age of 14 years while saving to support himself through art
school. Whilst Angus had served as a joiner's apprentice in Arbroath on
returning from war. Thus she employed them to clear out the hayloft and stables
for use as stores. They also carried out a few odd jobs like decorating and
repairs and indeed were well-qualified for the tasks. Of course they were paid
and put their earnings to good use ordering their little boxes of paints.
Everyone was strapped for cash. William shared his earnings with Nita which
were useful for luxuries like cigarettes. Almost everyone smoked in these days,
from glamorous film stars to parents and every type of role model.
Barbara,
Alice and James' daughter, was usually about the house or grounds as it was
school holidays throughout July and August. She was also encouraged to draw and
paint. Mrs. Cowie raved about her. Nita thought her well-built but physically
attractive with a beautiful mouth, eyes and good skin. Ruth would also be there
for the summer months and away to study or teach the rest of the year. Another
two members completed the family, Mrs. Cowie's cat Nollie, who occasionally strolled
out of the food pantry when the door was opened and Mr Cowie's little
companion, a terrier called Jock, who was partial to ice cream and attempted to
jump up on any passing ice cream consumer. One of the students' duties was to
walk Jock. Curiosity was not reserved to Nollie the cat but overtook the minds
of Nita and one other who remains unidentified. One evening while Mr and Mrs.
Cowie were out Nita and friend went in search of their bedroom, whether their
curiosity was satisfied is not known but the urge to explore was fulfilled.
What was
the influence of this setting on these students, themselves an odd mix of
characters? They were used to the austerity of war time rationing, and this was
far from over. In fact basic food rationing remained much the same until 1949.
Even bread which was could be bought freely without coupons during the war
became rationed from July 1946 until July 1948. They were used to cold
temperatures - it was probably warmer outside the house much of the time. The
challenges were of bonding with complex characters, not only Mr and Mrs. Cowie
but each other, such was their lack of confidence and insecurities; Nita had
her anxiety and non-gregarious personality, Joan was very motivated and
ambitious but found Mr and Mrs. Cowie's ways challenging while Angus had more
than his fair share of mental ill health from shell shock and childhood trauma.
He also had little art experience and no training. His talent recognised in
these early Hospitalfield days would have to pull him through. William was
probably by far the most normal. Like Joan he was hard working with little to
hold him back. Alexander who did not get to know the residential students, this
year at least, arrived in the morning and followed his own agenda. Little is
remembered of Margaret except the memory of her swimming in the sea. If anyone
knows of Margaret and her life after her time at Hospitalfield please get in
touch. 13
James
Cowie the Artist
____________________________________________________________________
to view
some of James Cowie's work see;
_____________________________________________________________________
James
Cowie has been described as one of the most interesting and talented painters
to have lived and worked in Scotland this century. He set the highest of
standards for his own painting and that of his students. As would be expected
with a strongly individual artist and successful teacher he had strong opinions
and was happy to convey them. His personality has been described by some as,
severe, astringent, domineering, rigorous, and critical. Like many Scots of his
era he had been born into a strict Protestant farming family and expected to
take over the farm, Netherton of Delgaty, Aberdeenshire. James was one of three
siblings and had to be strong to escape the pressure of his farming
inheritance. When his elder brother decided to follow in the footsteps of his
uncles who had emmigrated to New Zealand to settle in new territory, James
was left next in line. He had lived here during his formative days, his youth
and early manhood but determined to follow his academic and creative ambitions,
James remained resolved and firmly in the land of art. In 1919 his father died
and the farm was soon given up. The farm, however, remained deep in his psyche.
Painting after painting refers to the landscape of his childhood which was
farmed for generations by his antecedents. In later years he returned many
times with his own family to his Uncle's farm, the nearby Mill of Haremoss,
absorbing the atmosphere from the land he loved and new best.
Hospitalfield
followed his time teaching at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen in 1936. After
only a year he resigned when he found the restrictions of institutional life
and other staff therein stifling his creativity. Hospitalfield was probably his
dream post, giving him the artistic freedom and the luxury of sole influence on
the students with no one to antagonize him.
His
earliest paintings of his wife, baby and young girls are more loosely but
delicately painted showing great competence and pleasure in capturing an
accurate portrayal in a more relaxed style. For early works completed in
the 1920's see: 'Two Girls' (1920), oil; 'Girl Reading', oil;
'Girl in a Spotted Dress', watercolour; 'Girl in a Landscape'; 'Portrait of the
Artists First Wife' (1919), oil; 'In the Classroom' (1922), oil; 'Self-Portrait
with the Artist's First Wife', (1923) oil; 'Summer Day' (1925) oil; 'Sumer is
icumen in' (1925-6), oil. After this time however almost all his work is
in a meticulously measured style. In 1928 the striking portrait of the
artist’s second wife Alice, 'The Yellow Glove', painted early in their
marriage, shows the linearity of Cowie’s realist style yet still embraces a
more painterly style in Alice’s clothing and yellow glove.
His
art-teaching career had begun in earnest at Bellshill Academy in 1918.
Cowie used his classroom as his studio along with his pupils and thus was
enabled to study, draw and them. He had very strong views on drawing and
painting with no time for those promoting Scottish Expressionist traditions. He
worked in the style of the Old Masters of the Early Renaissance and often used
examples of their work as a reference point producing detailed pencil studies
of drapery, clothing and limbs. Oil painting then followed using his closely
observed drawing studies and watercolours. He endeavoured to give his own
paintings an Early Renaissance finish using the techniques like scumbling and
glazing to produce a high quality of finish with a light tone, sometimes almost
colourless. Every painting was painstakingly thought out, strongly linear and
precisely constructed and often returned to and reworked years later. Finally he
would work with oil and canvas creating a painting which he sometimes worked on
for many months or occasionally over years. This of course would fit in well
with time restrictions of working in class with short time periods of time with
each class. Sketching and long months observing the young pupils resulted in
long term painting projects. This method of working produced large number of
small pencil and watercolour studies with a much smaller number of large oil
paintings. His final composition could then be constructed by joining up these
individual studies, e.g. see 'Two Girls' 1934.
Most
likely due to his love of poetry and literature Cowie also had a high regard
for the Pre-Raphaelites who were influenced by literature for subject matter
and also believed in restrained classical values of sincerity and simplicity of
early Italian art. Members included John Everett Millais and Dante
Gabriel Rossetti. Pre-Raphaelite influence is obvious in Cowie's
'Book and Leaves' (c1935) where he shows reverence to
Millais' painting 'Autumn Leaves'. Also, in Cowie's schoolgirl
portraits such as 'Falling Leaves' (1934),
is a similar yearning to that observed in Rossetti's 'Mariana' which he
must have viewed in Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum (aagm); this yearning
likely a deep consciousness of the passing of time probably brought on through
many years spent teaching the younger generation. Most teachers
experience a deeply felt sense of the own ageing as their charges remain the
same age year after year while they themselves grow old. In Cowie's painting
the autumn leaves seen falling outside the schoolroom window are thought to
symbolise a passage from childhood to adulthood with an accompanying loss of
innocence. He painted few landscapes but those which he completed demonstrated
his ability as a talented landscape painter for example 'Castle of Auchry' 1944
which represents the landscape of his childhood.
In the
mid 1920's James Cowie discovered the work of Paul Nash (also see 'Autumn Crocus' 1928
oil, in Richard Calvocoressi’s biography, 'James Cowie', page
60). Inspired by the Surrealist features in Nash's art, Cowie began to
experiment with spatial ambiguities in his own work. It was noted in much
earlier times, before the First World War, while at Glasgow School of Art by
Benno Shotz that Cowie 'was the first surrealist though we didn't know what to
call it at the time'. During his time at Hospitalfield Cowie continued his
experimentation with metaphysical expression. His still-life’s were composed
using objects from a simple fresh apple to sheets of glass and items
which he valued such as books, postcards, shells and small figurines or
Tanagra.
'Still Life at Window' is characteristic of
Cowie's style. The Tanagra figurines along with other still life objects
positioned in front of a window create a surreal effect. The classical
statuettes marry the classical world to the landscape of Cowie's youth.
In ‘High Noon’, 1940 this small watercolour
still life again uses a landscape as a backdrop with familiar objects set in a
complex spatial relationship. Thus he created a collection of paintings which
developed into surrealist dreamlike creations. Surrealist influences from Paul
Nash can also be seen in 'Evening Star' 1940 which is
considered to be one of Cowie’s most ambitious paintings. Working on this
large-scale painting over the years 1937 to 1944 he used the curiously designed
Hospitalfield easel frames as surreal motifs to experiment with space. They
acted as both window and picture frame, a technique used by the Old Masters and
well- illustrated by Pintoricchio’s ‘Ulysses and Penelope’ .
In
‘Evening Star’ he managed to create both Pre-Raphaelite and Early
Renaissance effects by placing female figures within a strange and eerie
setting while using scumbling and glazing techniques with a limited use of
colour. It has been suggested that the symbolism in here was inspired by
Byron's poem 'Don Juan' from Canto the 3rd, verse 107,
Verse 107
Oh,
Hesperus! thou bringest all good things—
Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer,
To the
young bird the parent's brooding wings,
The welcome stall to the o'erlabour'd steer;
Whate'er
of peace about our hearthstone clings,
Whate'er our household gods protect of dear,
Are
gather'd round us by thy look of rest;
Thou
bring'st the child, too, to the mother's breast.
Note.
(Hesperus = evening star)
Don Juan,
a poem spanning hundreds of verses, relates to the contemporary world of Byron
on social, political, literary and ideological levels. And indeed one of
Cowie's selected literary figures was fellow native of Aberdeenshire son of
Catherine Gordon, George Byron Gordon, becoming at age 10, Lord Byron.
Byron received his early education at Aberdeen Grammar School and Cowie, who
studied English literature at Aberdeen University, must have been fascinated by
this adventurer, intellectual, and creative but controversial individual Anyone
spending long periods reading Byron may be susceptible to being overtaken by
melancholy especially a character of artistic and pensive nature and this
appears to have been Cowie at least some of the time. Indeed the environment
within and surrounding the Gothic Victorian mock castle of Hospitalfield, with
its antique furnishing and classical objects with an extensive library of
classic tomes, would create in one such as Cowie a mood of otherworldliness.
Each year here was split in two, long optimistic summer days with spirited and
lively young students sharply contrasting with six months of short darks days
alone with Alice, when he would lose himself in reading, writing and working on
his painting projects.
It is
likely that Cowie was inspired by a great deal of Byron’s poems and perhaps
identified with much of his sentiments; for example, from another of
Byron’ epic poems Childe Harolde’s Pilgrimage - Canto the Second, invokes
a feeling of eerie melancholy. This perhaps also inspired Evening Star’,
Verse 41
But when
he saw the evening star above
Leucadia’s
far-projecting rock of woe,
And
hailed the last resort of fruitless love,
He felt,
or deemed he felt, no common glow:
And as
the stately vessel glided slow
Beneath
the shadow of that ancient mount,
He
watched the billows’ melancholy flow,
And, sunk
albeit in thought as he was wont,
More
placid seemed his eye, and smooth his pallid front.
Published
seventy years before Cowie’s birth (1812-18) the poem, in a broad sense, is an
expression of the melancholy and disillusionment felt by a generation weary of
the wars of the post-Revolutionary and Napoleonic era; Cowie had been a
conscientious objector and had lived through two world wars and would empathise
with such expressions. He believed that it was not enough just for art to
create an impression of reality but that a painting should convey an idea or
express a concept. Cowie, in 1935 when asked, what is the function of a
painting? wrote ‘The expression of an idea which has the power of
provoking emotion. What moves in nature may be made to move in some way
when nature is copied. This at the present stage of art history (we are
suffering from a surfeit of impressionism or the lyrical) is to me not enough
for a picture, which must be an idea, a concept built of much that in its total
combination it would never be possible to see and to copy’. This
intellectual approach of restraint, classicism and emphasis on drawing set
himself apart from those with showy painterly styles and from many of his
contemporaries.
This is
clearly shown in one of his later paintings ‘Composition’ 1947. A still-life in
which
Creates
an effect of Cubism by constructing a collage style-painting by
using sheets of glass, postcards of classical paintings layered with
other objects. The end product is of dreamlike images merged and knitted
together helped by the small statues to give a Surrealist impression.
Here we see the satyr used in its full glory.
'Noon'
1946 (see aagm) stands on its own as Cowie’s only painting with direct sexual
potency. The male figure in this composition was based on a little model of a
satyr that Cowie modelled from clay. The satyr seems to float beside the girl
while the back view of the satyr is reflected in a mirror, as if in a
dream-bubble suspended above the sleeping girl. An atmosphere of dry arid
mid-day heat is created using colours of the desert with no green life to be
seen. The girl is thought to be Barbara copied from an almost identical sketch
and also seen in 'Outdoor School of Painting' (1938-41).
Cowie’s
influence on his students.
By 1947 Cowie was a well-established artist, an RSA, and a very
experienced teacher whom had already produced his most accomplished
paintings. It is worth remembering this was an era when relationships
between the generations were more formal, young people were not to get ideas
above their station and any waywardness would not be entertained for a minute.
Teachers in general had some social standing and authority; they should
not be challenged. Born in 1886, Cowie was Victorian in essence and
Scots Presbyterian by upbringing. Despite all this Nita found him a pleasant
man and not at all threatening; perhaps he was sensitive to her shyness and
lack of confidence. Her memory of this time spent at Hospitalfield
was the challenge of being pulled in polar opposite directions on the
style and form of art she had been taught. Hugh Crawford and the Glasgow School
of Art Drawing and Painting department placed a very strong emphasis on high
colour and free expression whereas here Cowie demanded tight drawing;
line and tone with subdued colour with every mark being carefully thought
through and planned. The evidence shows that for Cowie art was not meant
to be easy, it was a personal struggle with reasoning and thought battling
against instinct and romanticism; not for showing off but for making sense of
the environment and human existence. Like many artists and deep thinkers he
could not suffer fools and was quick to criticise but at the same time he
recognised hard work, dedication, intelligence and talent in others. In the
years 1937 to 1948 at Hospitalfield he taught and influenced many
students.
Among
students of Cowie were; Marie de Banzie, Nita Begg, Robert Henderson Blyth, Isabel Brodie, William Burns , Waistel Cooper, Robert Colquhoun, Joan Eardley, William Gallacher,
M.Inglis, Ray Howard-Jones, John Laurie, William Littlejohn, David Lockhart, Robert MacBryde, John Miller, Peter Murray,
Angus Neil, Cordelia Oliver, Alexander
Robbie, Neil Russell, Inga Svarc, Margaret Walker,
Alexander Young: not all were residential.
Alexander
Robbie
(from my interview with author 12 March 2011)
Although
Alexander Robbie was a day-visiting student in 1947 and did not get to know
the others at this time he attended Hospitalfield
informally over a few years. A strong memory is of Bet
Low (GSA 1942-45) as pretty as a picture in her red shoes in the summer of
1946.
Alexander
was born in 1917 and so by 1939, at the start of the war, had
already graduated from the GSA. He was called up to the army from the
outset. At the end of the war he was stationed in Germany and found
himself called upon to teach art at Gottingen University. Thus, Alexander's
teaching career began in a foreign land at the age of 28. His students
were the same young men who had been called up to the forces from British art
colleges like the GSA unable to graduate since their courses had been cut
short. Alexander returned home to Arbroath in order to stay with his
parents during the summer and undertook a teacher training diploma course
during term time in the late 40's. He returned to Hospitalfield
informally in 1948 and was guided by Ian Fleming (RSA RSW RWA RGI)
the successive warden.
Early
on Alexander exhibited his work in the RSA and RGI in order to establish a high
standard for himself.
Jimmy
Barr (GSA student 1929-35) a fellow student and later modelling lecturer
(1938-39 and 1945-65), had become a great friend of Alexander's during their
art school days. Barr retired in 1965 and died in 1969. Peers of
Alexander also remembered are Willie Burns RSA RSW RI who was killed in a
flying accident in 1972 and Johnnie Miller RSA PRSW (GSA student 1936-41) who
taught at the art school.
Alexander
became a successful art teacher who taught for 19 years in Calder Street
Secondary School, Blantyre, then transferred to St. Ninians R.C. School,
Kirkintilloch for the remainder of his career. In Blantyre he developed the art
department by introducing weaving and crafts. His father had been a textile
engineer and had a good knowledge of weaving. Alexander set up eighteen looms
in classrooms with the help of a local carpet manufacturer who supplied wool and
employed some of his school leavers. It was a great success. Pupils were
invited to the factory to view the processes involved in weaving carpets and
were treated to ice cream and afternoon tea. He also enabled young students who
sought out his expertise to achieve a portfolio of a standard to submit to art
school. This private tuition he carried out on a voluntary unpaid basis.
Alexander
was also an experienced skier and became the first ski instructor in Scotland.
A lover
of yachting he sailed around the West Coast of Scotland, once travelling as far
as Norway and was the proud owner of four yachts over 40 years. After his wife
passed away in the late 1970's Alexander gave up sailing and travelled with
friends to the four corners of the world. Alexander died 30 July 2014, aged 96.
The Hospitalfield Four
Nita Begg_William Gallacher ………………. Joan Eardley_Angus Neil
Cowie was already well aware of William Gallacher;
there were always connections between students of different decades and
generations. Cowie was a former student at the GSA himself and among his fellow
students were Archibald McGlashan and Benno Schotz.
William had been a student of Benno Schotz and later
became a fellow lecturer; at some point he was commissioned to paint and
decorate Benno Schotz’s Glasgow apartment. While Archibald McGlashan
was a friend of William’s father, John Gallagher, a serious amateur painter
whom occasionally exhibited his work, (two of his oil paintings are held by
Paisley Art Gallery and Museum). Both had lived in Paisley.
And since
William also was familiar with some of Cowie’s earlier Hospitalfield students
such as Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde (both
graduated with awards and scholarships from the GSA at the end of William’s
1st year) and John Laurie, William also knew of Cowie.
Thus Cowie knew William to be an experienced
student who had already accomplished a great deal. In fact his talent for art
had been recognised at an early age. On reaching eleven in 1932, he was awarded
the Gold Medal in Paisley Corporation’s school drawing competition.
In 1934 he repeated his success, this time with Silver Medals for both drawing and his sketch book. The following year he won three prizes; Gold Medal for Drawing, Gold for Sketch book and Silver Medal for Design. The elected judges throughout these years in Paisley were the renowned artists W. Sommerville Shanks ARSA RSW and J.D. MacGregor RSW.
In the
same year William won a Silver Medal in the Glasgow Corporation Drawing
Competition at Glasgow Art Galleries and Museum. The judging panel included the
Director of Glasgow School of Art, W.O. Hutchinson, as well
as George Houston RSA RSW and W.Sommerville
Shanks. This was clearly a very productive year as he
also won a ‘special’ prize for technical subjects at school.
1935 to
1936 was his last year at school since he was now age 15. His talent was
recognised and he was offered an apprenticeship on leaving school to a firm
painter and decorators; in these days this was often the first career step for
an artistic young man. The above art competition judge J.D. MacGregor had
started out along a similar pathway before he achieved a place at
Glasgow School of Art and went on to work as a designer for Waring and Gillow.
William, with the support of both his parents, worked hard to follow his
passion for art and design. He achieved this by studying at Paisley
Technical College and School of Art while undertaking his
apprenticeship. Here he studied various drawing and
painting skills and at the end of the year was awarded a Certificate of Merit
of the First Class with a mark of 95% and was presented with First Prize of the
year. By the end of this college year he continued working but now had enough
finances, qualifications and a portfolio in place, to apply for a place at the
GSA. He was accepted and began the new term in September 1937. He
continued to achieve excellent results and was chosen along with a small group
of first year pupils to work on a project at the 1938 Empire Exhibition in
Glasgow with his Head of Department, Hugh Adam Crawford. This involved of
designing and painting murals on the outside walls and sanctuary wall of the
Catholic Pavilion which was designed by Jack Coia.
William
had been a fellow student of Nita’s enrolling at the Glasgow School of Art the
same year. They were friends through 1st to 4th year
until he volunteered for the Royal Navy in May 1941. While Nita was
nursing, William returned to the art school in spring 1946, in order to
complete his diploma. In the spring of 1947 he graduated in style having
been awarded the prestigious Guthrie Book Prize for best
portrait study, a travel scholarship and a place at
Hospitalfield.
Here Nita
and William had plenty of time to become reacquainted and spend spare hours
socialising with Joan and Angus in the Hospitalfield park lands, beach and at
Arbroath Harbour where they sketched and painted. Nita claimed to be lazy at
Hospitalfield achieving but a thin portfolio. Whether this is exaggeration is
not known, as very little of her work survives from this time. There is no
doubt that she was still some way from the confidence levels of her peers. A
shortage of work was not problem for William and Joan; more than a sufficient
number of drawings and paintings were gathered together to create a joint
exhibition of their work from their time at Hospitalfield. On return to the
Glasgow School of Art, following selection by art school tutors, it was hung in
the museum. Both Joan and William were then invited to study post graduate
diploma during the session 1947 to 1948.
NITA
Nita
found it a continual challenge to reconcile the influence of Cowie on her work
with that experienced at Glasgow School of Art. This led to her constant review
and rework of her drawing and painting. A rare example of work
executed by a Cowie student in the Hospitalfield studio is that of 'Still
Life' by Nita (see below) and according to her there was a fair input by
Cowie himself. It is reminiscent of the classic 'Cowie still life
setting' with a small figurine juxtaposed with objects designed around it to
give an exaggerated sense of scale. Seen clearly is a paint tube box,
paint tube and screen which is created with a piece of folded paper;
structurally simple with subtle subdued greys and small areas of strong primary
colour and green. The figurine is likely to be that painted by Cowie in ‘Composition’ (see bottom left of painting),
which can be viewed in National Galleries of Scotland’s ‘Modern Two’ building.
WILLIAM
While
studying under Cowie, William had ample opportunity to refine his drawing
skills; young local women were employed as sitters for portraiture and figure
drawing and painting. And although there is no known work of William’s from
this time, an example from another student. ‘Portrait of James Cowie’ by John
Laurie* was painted that same year, 1947. Laurie was one of Cowie's
earliest students at Hospitalfield in 1938 and must have returned to
Hospitalfield probably on more than on summer to work with Cowie. Laurie’s
painting has two of Cowie’s reproduced in its background and it illustrates
Cowie’s own technique of ‘picture within a picture’. It shows students working
on a portrait of a local schoolgirl model. Exhibited in the RSA
June 1947, I believe it is now in the collection of the SNPG and can be seen in
Richard Calvocoressi’s book, ‘James Cowie’ page 62. William was not to follow
this style but concentrated his focus directly on the sitter.
*Laurie
became a good friend of William Gallacher, both teaching at the GSA. Eventually
he was to die at a relatively early age, I believe of food poisoning.
JOAN
Joan
Eardley continued to paint during the years between leaving art school with
Nita in 1943 and Hospitalfield in 1947 showing work with the SSA in 1942.
In the October after leaving art school she briefly studied at Jordanhill
Teacher Training College but left and took up a position as a joiner’s labourer
with a boat-builder. Here she was able to use her skills to paint camouflage
designs on war landing craft. Some of this time she spent painting in Arran
with Margot Sandeman, her friend and fellow student, and occasionally painted
there alone.
In 1946
she was commissioned to paint a school mural in Lincoln. By winter 1946/47 she
was enjoying drawing and painting in London but she missed home in Bearsden and
was frustrated at her painting progress. At this point she decided to apply for
a place at Hospitalfield.
Joan was
also troubled by the force of Cowie’s artistic dogma and like many young
sensitive artists found it challenging to assert her own opinions. She
did however believe that Cowie and Hospitalfield presented a valuable
experience not to be missed. One of her coping mechanisms was to make herself
scare by disappearing of to the grain loft or to Arbroath Harbour to work; also
she wrote to her mother to share her thoughts. Cordelia Oliver, William
Buchanan and Fiona Pearson with Sara Stevenson have all written biographies of
Joan.
ANGUS
Like Nita
there is no known work of Angus’ from this time, however, there is no doubt
that he took it seriously since he made the decision to continue studying.
Time spent in pursuit of art at Hospitalfield enriched the friendship between
Joan and Angus; he must have been inspired by her success as an exhibiting
artist and her constant commitment to her work while she saw both talent and
vulnerability in him. In 1948, while Joan and William had been offered a
year of Postgraduate study at GSA, Angus returned to Hospitalfield under
the tutelage of the notable artist and engraver Ian Fleming of the GSA.
_________________________________________________________________
Nita was a synesthete.
Like the
majority of synesthetes Nita was completely unaware that her abilities were
scientifically described and she merely took them for granted. Scientists have
known about synesthesia since 1880 when Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles
Darwin, published a paper relating to this unusual condition in the journal
'Nature'. In more recent times many scientists have taken up this area of
research once again as neurological research is more widely undertaken.
It was,
when in her early eighties, discovered she has an ability called synesthesia ,
a condition which she herself was well aware she had in which people's senses
intertwine. There are numerous types of synaesthesia which can involve all
senses - vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Some synaesthetes experience
colours when they hear, read or even think of letters and numbers. For others,
words can trigger a real sensation of taste on their tongue. Nita has the most
common form which is lexical to colour synesthesia. Examples of her
manifestation of synesthesia in numbers, days of the week and months show both
texture and colour, for example, number 3 as a white-grey texture of
towelling,number 4 as smoothish green, Tuesday is darker green and rough like
boucle, while August is rough red.
It is thought by scientists that insights into the neurological basis of
synesthesia could help explain some of the creativity of painters, poets and
novelists. According to one study, the condition is seven times as common in
creative people as in the general population.
Well
known artists with synesthesia include David Hockney who perceives music as
colour, shape, and configuration, and who has used these perceptions when
painting opera stage sets but not while creating his other artworks. Also
Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky whose sound to colour synesthesia combined
four senses: colour, hearing, touch, and smell.
1 par.
from Nita Begg in interview 2010
2 Memoir
by Dorothea Merrydrew 2010 (unpublished)
3
Discharge Certificate of Nita Begg dated 8 March 1947
4
par.Nita Begg in conversation 2010
5
correspondence with Alistair Young 25.02.2011
6 The
Scotsman 25 March 1948
7
Alexander Robbie interview with the author on 12 March 2011
8 Ibid.
9 Oliver,
Cordelia: Angus Neil, Paintings and Pastels, Aberdeen Art
Gallery 1994
10
Alexander Robbie interview with the author on 12 March 2011
11
Cordelia Oliver: James Cowie, Edinburgh University Press 1980
12 Alexander
Robbie interview with the author on 12 March 2011
13 pars.
from 'Alice had been a teacher.....' details from author's interviews with Nita
Begg 2010/11
