Joseph Crawhall


1861 - 1913

Painter. Born in Morpeth (N. England) and brought up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Crawhall trained at King's College School in London, where he met E.A. Walton (1860 - 1922). Crawhall, Walton and James Guthrie (1859 - 1930) painted at the Clyde-coast resort of Rosneath in 1879. Together they became part of the group of artists known as the 'Glasgow Boys', who adopted the realism of French painting of the time. The group exhibited widely and their work was very popular, yet the establishment, in the form of the Royal Scottish Academy, rejected them. Crawhall painted with members of this influential group in the Trossachs and Berwickshire.

Crawhall abandoned oil painting in the mid-1880s, preferring the medium of watercolour in which he excelled. He is renowned for his paintings of animals and is particularly recognised as one of the best horse painters of the 20th century. He is also noted as a great perfectionist, who once through away a painting, which was retrieved by a friend and went on to take the top award at an international art show.

Crawhall died in London, but today his work can be seen in, for example, the National Gallery of Scotland, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery (Glasgow) and the Kirkcaldy Art Gallery.


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