Peter Howson OBE

Peter Howson OBE, 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 taught part-time at Glasgow School of Art. He was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to record the conflict in the former Yugoslavia in 1992, and became official British War Artist for Bosnia in 1993. In 1996 he was awarded Doctor of Letters Honoras Causa, by the University of Strathclyde.

Howson is one of Scotland's leading figurative painters and he is particularly noted for his draughtsmanship which he uses skilfully to dramatise the character of working people at work, play, sport and leisure. Many of his paintings draw direct inspiration from the streets of Glasgow where he grew up, and as such his paintings have an authenticity which comes from personal experience, and are further dramatised by his ability to portray extremes of gloom and brilliant light. Howson was one of the central figures in the group known as 'The New Glasgow Boys', alongside Ken Currie, Steven Campbell and Adrian Wiszniewski, who studied alongside him at the Glasgow School of Art in the 1980's.

He participated in the Compass Gallery New Generation Show in 1981 and has been a regular exhibitor with both Compass and Gerber Fine Art throughout his career, as well as receiving the Arthur Andersen Purchase Award at Compass Gallery's 'Barras' Exhibition for Glasgow's Mayfest in 1986.

Howson's work has been shown in major exhibitions worldwide including 'Eye on Europe' at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and 'The Naked Portrait' at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2007. He had a major retrospective at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh in 2023 called 'When the Apple Ripens: Peter Howson at 65'. His work is in many private and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the British Museum, London; Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow; and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.