Edwin John Alexander
RSA RSW RWS (1870–1926) was a Scottish artist known for his pictures of animals and birds.
Life
He was born in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
in February 1870 the eldest son of the artist
Robert Alexander and his wife.
In 1887 and 1888 he accompanied his father on a trip to
Tangiers
Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...
with
Joseph Crawhall III
Joseph Crawhall (20 August 1861 – 24 May 1913) was an English artist born in Morpeth, Northumberland.
Life
Crawhall was the fourth child and second son of Joseph Crawhall II and Margaret Boyd. Crawhall specialised in painting animals and b ...
and
Pollock Nisbet. On his return to Britain he studied art formally in the RSA school (the Royal Institution in Edinburgh) and then under
Emmanuel Fremiet
Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
but did not receive any formal qualifications.
In 1892 he returned to North Africa and settled on the
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...
, living on a houseboat on the river for 4 years. He learned
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
and began painting desert life in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
.
He died in
Musselburgh in April 1926. He his buried in
Inveresk
Inveresk (Gaelic: ''Inbhir Easg'') is a village in East Lothian, Scotland situated to the south of Musselburgh. It has been designated a conservation area since 1969. It is situated on slightly elevated ground on the north bank of a loop o ...
Cemetery in the northern section, on a wall backing onto the original churchyard to the south (east of the large red granite monument to John Brunton).
Family
He married in 1904.
He was brother-in-law to the artists
Alexander Ignatius Roche and to
William Walls.
Known Works
*''The Wate''
*''Peacock'' (1899)
*''Blue Tit''
References
1870 births
1926 deaths
Artists from Edinburgh
Scottish artists
{{Scotland-artist-stub