Inspirational Artist: The Glasgow Boys - Joseph Crawhall

I remember whilst living and working in Glasgow discovering The Glasgow Boys Group of artists who in the late 19th century and early 20th century produced works to grace any salon and gallery but whose works

went unappreciated and undervalued for many years. One of the collectors of the works was the industrialist and collector William Burrell. It was in his museum in Pollockshields Park i first came face to face with the works of Joseph Crawhall and was in awe of the detail but also the capturing of movement, light and shade of his work. The company i worked for, Britoil also sponsored a book by Roger Billcliffe 'The Glasgow Boys' which increased my appreciation of the group.

Crawhall trained at King's College London before going to Paris to work with Aimé Morot in 1882.

In the 1880s and 1890s, his work became associated with the Glasgow Boys. He was strongly influenced by the Impressionists, and, like them, his work was rejected by the Establishment, in his case in the form of the Royal Scottish Academy.

In the 1880s he travelled throughout Morocco and Spain, abandoning oil painting and moving to watercolours with a lighter palette.