/John_Houston_-_The_Forth

John Houston The Forth

John Houston The Forth 4 April - 2 May 2012

The Scottish Gallery 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Tel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk Front cover: Sunset over the Forth, oil on canvas, 122 x 183 cms Left: Sunset over the Sea watercolour, 97 x 57 cms

Foreword John Houston OBE, RSA, RSW, RGI (1930-2008) John Houston was brought up in Buckhaven in Fife and the ever changing light over the Forth estuary and fields falling away to the shoreline were the backdrop to an idyllic childhood of horse fairs, golf, football and eventually the inspiration to be a painter.

John was drawn into the fold of Edinburgh College of Art and became as prodigious and natural a painter as his mentor William Gillies. He travelled widely, making exhibitions after trips to Japan and America always with his wife and soul mate Elizabeth Blackadder. But like any great landscape painter there was a particular, deep engagement with one subject and Houston studied the Forth in all conditions with oil, watercolour, pastel and monotype. He could not recall when he started to paint the views north, from the south of the river, from the beaches of East Lothian to the Paps of Fife or in wild or obscure weather when the view is often anchored by the hard profile of the Bass Rock.

This is the first of a series of shows which should remind people of Houston’s great contribution to Scottish art: his originality, breadth of vision, integrity and faith in his own means and inspiration.

Left: Harbour, 1985 watercolour & pencil, 42 x 59.5 cms

Morning Sky and Sea, 1979 watercolour on Japanese paper, 60 x 99 cms

Rainstorm over the Bass Rock pastel, 60 x 60 cms

Gold Sunset over the Sea watercolour, 17 x 14.5 cms

From the Shore watercolour, 20 x 20.5 cms

Red Sky over Dark Sea watercolour, 14 x 19 cms

Cornfields and Evening Sky watercolour, 19 x 28 cms

Above: Bright Sky watercolour, 12 x 14 cms Right: Golden Sky and Fields watercolour, 71 x 103 cms

Bass Rock and Evening Sky, 1974 watercolour on Japanese paper, 64 x 94 cms

Dark Sunset over the Sea watercolour, 58 x 97 cms

Moonlit Sea watercolour on Japanese paper, 63 x 92 cms

Stormy Sky, 1975 watercolour on Japanese paper, 60 x 98.5 cms

Shore, Sea and Sky watercolour. 59 x 76 cms

Bass Rock and Night Sky, 1978 watercolour on Japanese paper, 63 x 93 cms

Red Sky and Sea watercolour, 50 x 66 cms

Red Sky oil on canvas, 25 x 30 cms

Sea, Sky and Shore, 1992 watercolour on Japanese paper, 63 x 98 cms

Golden Sky, 1992-93 watercolour, 65 x 99.5 cms

Bass Rock and Sunset Sky watercolour, 18.5 x 23 cms

Bass Rock and Blue Sky watercolour, 18.5 x 23 cms

Windy Day by the Shore watercolour, 20.5 x 29.5 cms

Path through the Dunes, 2001 oil on canvas, 46 x 56 cms

THESCOTTISHGALLERY CONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 1842

John Houston The Forth 4 April - 2 May 2012

Right: Sunset over the Sea, 1970 watercolour, 92 x 63 cms Back Cover: Autumn Sunset near Elie, oil on canvas board, 17 x 48.5 cms The Scottish Gallery 16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Tel 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk