18.5 x 23.5 cm (print size 9 x 10.5 cm) brown wooden frame handmade in Scotland mounted small print of The Yellow Glove by James Cowie, from the National Galleries of Scotland Collection. Art print to accompany the 2017 exhibition True to Life | British Realist Painting in the 1920s and 1930s, shown at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.
This portrait shows the artist’s second wife Alice, and was made in the early days of the couple’s marriage. Alice Cowie was a clever, ambitious and sociable woman whose outgoing character marked a stark contrast to that of her rather introverted husband. The use of bright colours and hard lines perfectly complement the sitter’s striking looks and rather aloof expression, suggesting the strength of her personality. Her clothes and hairstyle are typical of the 1920s style.
James Cowie RSA was a Scottish painter and teacher. The quality of his portrait paintings and his strong linear style made him among the most individual Scottish painters of the 1920s and 1930s.
