George Houston RSA, RI, RSW (20 January 1869 – 5 October 1947) was a Scottish artist. He was a prolific landscape painter, using both oil and watercolour. He primarily depicted scenes of

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

and

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

Life and death

Houston was born in Dalry,

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and so ...

. In the 1880s he stayed at North Bank Cottage in Portencross, where he formed a long-lasting friendship with the noted Scottish author Neil Munro (Para Handy). In 1912 Neil Munro wrote a book entitled "Ayrshire Idylls", and this was illustrated by George Houston. It is possible that Houston and his family moved to the nearby town of

Saltcoats Saltcoats ( gd, Baile an t-Salainn) is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages al ...

before moving back to Dalry. Thereafter he lived at West Lynn until his death on 5 October 1947.

Notable works

''An Ayrshire Landscape'' was purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1904 and remains in the

Glasgow Museums Glasgow Museums is the group of museums and galleries owned by the City of Glasgow, Scotland. They hold about 1.6 million objects including over 60,000 art works, over 200,000 items in the human history collections, over 21,000 items relating to ...

collection. Houston was a friend of the writer Neil Munro and illustrated Munro's book ''Ayrshire Idylls'' (A&C Black, 1912). Munro also provided commentary on ''Burns' Country'', a series of 12 etchings made by Houston published in 1915. These etchings are now in the possession of the North Ayrshire Council Museums Service.

Family

Houston married Anne Kerr Crawford in 1889 and the couple had ten children together.

References

External links

* 1869 births 1947 deaths Scottish watercolourists 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 20th-century Scottish painters Landscape artists People from Dalry, North Ayrshire 19th-century Scottish male artists 20th-century Scottish male artists {{Scotland-painter-stub