Victoria Crowe
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Victoria Elizabeth Crowe OBE FRSE RSA (born 1945) is a Scottish artist known for her portrait and landscape paintings. She has works in several collections including the National Galleries of Scotland, the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the Royal Scottish Academy.
Life
She was born in Kingston-on-Thames on 8 May 1945 and educated at Ursuline Convent Grammar School, London; Kingston College of Art; and the Royal College of Art, before moving to Scotland in 1968 to teach at Edinburgh College of Art. She and her husband Michael Walton settled at Kitleyknowe near Carlops in the Pentland Hills, Scotland.[1]
Work
She began painting formal portraits in the early 1980s.[2] She has produced many individual portraits, including RD Laing, Kathleen Raine, Tam Dalyell, and Peter Higgs.[1][3]
Her work includes the series A Shepherd's Life, painted between 1970 and 1985 and first shown at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh in 2000, which portrays the life of Jenny Armstrong, an elderly shepherd from the Scottish Borders who was Crowe's neighbour at Kitleyknowe. One of the works in the series, Two Views, was converted into a tapestry by Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, commissioned by Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch.[1]
She visited Italy in the early 1990s, which added the influence of Italian Renaissance art to her works, leading to a new phase of increased confidence and achievement. However in 1994 her art was forced to respond to her son's diagnosis with cancer and then to his death in 1995, which resulted in a series of works expressing her grief, through repeated motifs such as the moon and flowers. Her works in the 21st century included wintry landscapes with skeletal hazel trees which Duncan Macmillan called "numinous pictures; they are spiritual landscapes".[2]
Honours
- 2004: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)[4]
- 2010: Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh[5]
- Member of the Royal Scottish Academy[6]
Exhibitions
- 2000: A Shepherd's Life, Scottish National Portrait Gallery[1]
- 2007: Plant Memory, Royal Scottish Academy[7]
- 2009: Fine Art Society, London[1]
Collections
She has works in collections including:
- National Galleries of Scotland: Portraits including Callum Macdonald,[8] Graham Crowden[9] and Winifred Rushforth[10]
- National Portrait Gallery, London: Portraits of Kathleen Raine and Dame Janet Vaughan[11]
- Royal Scottish Academy[12]
Bibliography
Monographs
- Macmillan, Duncan. Victoria Crowe. Antique Collectors' Club Ltd, 2012.[13]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Victoria Crowe interview: Shepherd's delight". The Scotsman. 14 January 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lawson, Julie (20 October 2012). "Book review: Victoria Crowe by Duncan Macmillan". The Scotsman. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "Prof Peter Higgs: New portrait of boson particle physicist". 15 June 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "The Full List". The Glasgow Herald. 12 June 2004. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "Current Fellows by Academic Discipline Groups". Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "Full list of RSA Members". Royal Scottish Academy. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "Plant Memory". Royal Scottish Academy. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "Callum Macdonald, 1912 - 1999. Printer and publisher". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "Graham Crowden, 1922 - 2010. Actor". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "Dr Winifred Rushforth, 1885 - 1983. Psycho-analyst". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "Victoria Crowe". National Portrait Gallery (London). Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ "Into an Older Land by Victoria Crowe". BBC. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ↑ Taylor, Alan (20 July 2012). "Duncan Macmillan: Victoria Crowe (Antique Collectors' Club, £35)". The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 18 February 2014.