* PETER HOWSON OBE (SCOTTISH b. 1958)
YOUNG PATRIOTS

pastel on paper, signed
mounted, framed and under glass

image size 45cm x 59cm, overall size 74cm x 85cm

Note: Peter Howson OBE has established a formidable reputation as one of his generation's leading figurative painters. Many of his paintings derive inspiration from the streets of Glasgow, where he was brought up. He is renowned for his penetrating insight into the human condition, and his heroic portrayals of the mighty and meek. His art is described by Robert Heller as "founded in humanity, especially the human face." Howson was born in London. He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1975-1977, returning in 1979 to complete a Master's. In 1985 he was made the Artist in Residence at the University of St Andrews and also a part-time tutor at Glasgow School of Art. In 1992 he was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to record the conflict in the former Yugoslavia . He was appointed official British war artist for Bosnia in 1993 and in 1996 was awarded Doctor of Letters Honoras Causa, University of Strathclyde. Prior to converting to Christianity in 2000, Howson responded to pain by pursuing hedonism. His experiences of abuse - whether self-inflicted and substance-related or the traumatic events of his childhood - have afforded him an affinity with those individuals who are classed as somehow 'on the edge'. His work has caught the attention of a number of prominent cultural figures, celebrities and creatives as well as striking a chord with prisoners, a voiceless demographic from whom Howson receives many letters of support. His ability to speak to the peripheries - to both the exclusive echelons living 'the highlife' and the socially alienated outsiders labelled 'low lives' - is proof of his enduring skill at capturing the maverick, excessive and non-conformist, while also seeking spiritual change. In 2011 Howson completed a dramatic rendering of the martyrdom of St John Ogilvie for the renovated St Andrew's Cathedral in Glasgow. The two year process of working on the commission was the subject of a BBC documentary. In 2023 Howson was the subject of a major retrospective at the Edinburgh City Art Centre, When the Apple Ripens: Peter Howson at 65, a comprehensive overview of the artist's career. His work has been shown in major exhibitions globally including Eye on Europe at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and The Naked Portrait at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2007. Public collections include: Aberdeen Art Gallery; Bankfield Museum, Halifax; British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); British Council; British Museum, London; Cartwright Hall, Bradford, Christie’s Corporate Collection; City Art Centre, Edinburgh; City Art Gallery, Southampton; Contemporary Art Society; deYoung Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco; Dundee Art Gallery; Eigsee Festival Collection; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Glasgow Museums (Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove); Glasgow Royal Concert Hall; Gulbenkian Collection, Lisbon; Hunterian Museum, Glasgow; Imperial War Museum, London; Isle of Man Arts Council; Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Museums; Library of Congress, Washington DC; Lloyds TSB Group plc, London; The Maclaurin Trust, Ayr; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Ministry of Defence, London; Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York; National Gallery of Norway, Oslo; New York Library; Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery; Paisley Art Gallery; Pallant House Gallery; Paul Mellon Centre; Yale University, Washington; People’s Palace Museum; Peter Scott Gallery; Lancaster University, Lancaster; The Fleming Collection, London; Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS); Scottish Amicable; Scottish Development Agency; The Arts Council of Great Britain; The Scottish Arts Council; The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; Scottish Television (STV); Tate Gallery, London; University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; University of Salt Lake City; University of Strathclyde, Glasgow; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; The Jerwood Collection. Peter Howson's paintings hang in prestigious private and corporate collections worldwide and his known celebrity buyers include Mick Jagger, Madonna and David Bowie. "What an artist. They'll be talking about him in a hundred years time" - Dr Bendor Grosvenor, art historian and TV Presenter ‘Britain’s Lost Masterpieces’.