- Lawrence Gowing
Sir Lawrence Gowing (
21 April 1918 -5 February 1991 ) was a Britishartist ,writer ,curator , andteacher . Initially recognized as a portrait and landscape painter, he quickly rose to prominence as an art educator, writer, and, eventually, curator and museum trustee. As a student of art history he was largely self-taught. [ [http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/gowingl.htm Biography in the Dictionary of Art Historians] ]Sir Lawrence was born Lawrence Burnett Gowing to Horace Gowing, a draper, and his wife, Luisa. Born in
Stoke Newington and raised inLondon , his first painting of note, "Mare Street, Hackney", made reference to his father's shop. After attending the Downs School atColwall ,Herefordshire andLeighton Park School , in 1938 he enrolled in theEuston Road School , where he studied withWilliam Coldstream .A
Quaker , he was aconscientious objector duringWorld War II . [Biography, DAH] In the 1940s he became recognised as a painter, and for the rest of his life was sought after to paint casual but quintessential portraits of the eminent, among whom wereClement Attlee ,Lord Halifax , andEdgar Adrian .He began teaching in 1948, first as Professor of Fine Art, at King's College, University of Durham at Newcastle upon Tyne (now
Newcastle University ) from 1948-58, then as Principal ofChelsea School of Art from 1958-65, as Professor of Fine Arts atLeeds University , finally serving as principal of theSlade School of Fine Art atUniversity of London from 1975-85. Concurrently, he authored a number of art monographs and catalogues on masters such asVermeer ,William Hogarth ,J.M.W. Turner ,Cézanne ,Matisse , andLucian Freud . Among the major exhibitions he organized were those for Turner at theMuseum of Modern Art in 1966, Matisse inNew York City in 1966 and London in 1968, and Cézanne, which traveled in 1988-89 from theRoyal Academy to theMusée d'Orsay and theNational Gallery of Art .Sir Lawrence was a trustee of the
Tate Gallery , theNational Portrait Gallery , and theBritish Museum , and was a member of theArts Council of Great Britain . In 1978 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and was made honorary curator of its collections in 1985. Beginning in the 1960s he traveled to theUnited States to serve asKress Professor at the National Gallery inWashington, D.C. , and was also curator of thePhillips Collection in Washington.Knight ed in 1982, in 1985 he was made achevalier in theOrder of Arts and Letters inFrance .A first marriage, to Julia Strachey, ended in divorce. In 1966 he married Jenny Wallis. Sir Lawrence had three daughters.
He died of
heart failure at the age of 72.References
[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE0DE173EF934A35751C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print New York Times obituary by John Russell, February 7, 1991.]
External links
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=1197&page=1 Paintings in the Tate collection]
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=ss&sText=lawrence+gowing&LinkID=mp01845&role=art Paintings in the National Portrait Gallery]
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