James Cumming (1922–1991) was a Scottish painter and lecturer influential in

The Edinburgh School The Edinburgh School refers to a group of 20th century artists connected with Edinburgh. They share a connection through Edinburgh College of Art, where most studied and worked together during or soon after the First World War. As friends and coll ...

in the postwar period.

Biography

Cumming was born in

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, in 1922. His father was superintendent of the local swimming baths, where James swam 100 lengths every morning before school. His mother was a factory worker, James was the first of her three children. He was educated at

Dunfermline High School Dunfermline High School is one of four main high schools located in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The school also caters for pupils from Kincardine, Rosyth and surrounding villages. The school was founded in 1468. Today it has over 1,550 pupils. ...

, where he won prizes in several subjects. At the school he was remembered as a serious student who strove for the best results in everything he did. He showed early promise in music, excelling in piano and winning distinction at every grade. His artistic talents were nurtured at school by the teacher and artist George Watson. He displayed an early determination to become an artist, winning an Andrew Grant Scholarship to attend the

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

between 1939 and 1947, but his studies were interrupted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He tried to sign up for pilot training early, lying about his age, and eventually, in 1941, joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, completed pilot training at

Terrell, Texas Terrell is a city in Kaufman County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 17,465. Terrell is located about east of Dallas. History Terrell developed as a railroad town, beginning in 1873 with construction here ...

, in 1944 and served in

RAF Transport Command RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967. ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. Following his service he returned to live with his parents and his studies at Edinburgh College of Art completing his Diploma in 1948 and his postgraduate degree in 1949. He was awarded a Travelling Scholarship, which he used to live and work in the remote island community of

Callanish Callanish ( gd, Calanais) is a village (township) on the west side of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles), Scotland. Callanish is within the parish of Uig. A linear settlement with a jetty, it is on a headland jutting into ...

on the

Isle of Lewis The Isle of Lewis ( gd, Eilean Leòdhais) or simply Lewis ( gd, Leòdhas, ) is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as ...

, Scotland. By living frugally he lived a full two years in Callanish, partly by teaching art at the village school. In this period he made a series of abstracted figurative paintings based on the landscape and figures he there. He continued to paint from these memory for almost 18 years. These are known as the Hebridean paintings, and they later helped to establish Cumming as a painter of

. Cumming's work was included in the Scottish Gallery retrospective exhibition in 1993 entitled ''The Edinburgh School''. This exhibition also showed the works of

Robin Philipson Sir Robert (Robin) James Philipson RSW (17 December 1916 – 26 May 1992) was an English painter who was influential within the Scottish art scene for over three decades. Life Philipson was born in 1916 in Broughton-in-Furness, Lancashire ...

and

William Gillies William Gillies (1865–1932) was a Scottish patriot and a socialist. He helped to form the Scots National League, which joined with other bodies to form the National Party of Scotland, which in turn evolved into the Scottish National Party (SNP ...

, both of whom were close artistic and academic associates of Cumming.

Teaching

Cumming lectured at the Edinburgh College of Art between 1950 and 1982, teaching both in the Humanities and the Painting school. Students of this time included Sandy Moffat,

John Bellany John Bellany (18 June 1942 – 28 August 2013) was a Scottish painter. Early life Bellany was born in Port Seton. His father and grandfather were fishermen in Port Seton and Eyemouth near Edinburgh. During the early 1960s, he studied at ...

and latterly Richard Wright who won the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

in 2009. Cumming is remembered with great affection for his gentlemanly encouragement, sparkling wit and the range of his intellect. He was elected Academian of the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

in 1970 and acted as its Secretary between 1978 and 1980.

Family

He married the artist Betty Elston in 1953 and their marriage continued until his death in 1991. He was survived by Betty, his son Timothy Cumming, entrepreneur and artist, and daughter

Laura Cumming Laura Cumming is the art critic of ''The Observer'' newspaper, a position she has held since 1999. Before that she worked for ''The Guardian'', the ''New Statesman'' and the BBC. In addition to her career in journalism, Cumming has written well-r ...

, author and art critic of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' newspaper.

His art

The two principal periods in Cumming's painting are the figurative abstraction of the early sixties derived in main part from his Lewis experience and the more geometrical and purer abstraction of the seventies onwards. The "painterly" yet thinly applied textures of Cumming's early work contrasts with the heavy impasto and rich colour themes of his contemporaries in the Edinburgh School. His later colour experimentations were to be as much intellectual as expressive, leading to a deeper synthesis of harmony and contrast. A strong element of fine draughtsmanship is a constant throughout Cumming's work. Cumming's position in post-war Scottish art is perhaps best summed up by the art critic Duncan Macmillan in 1994: "Cumming and Philipson were ambitious artists who strove to create a genuinely original vision; others achieved as much reputation with less struggle". The work of Scottish artist

Alan Davie James Alan Davie (28 September 1920 – 5 April 2014) was a Scottish painter and musician. Biography Davie was born in Grangemouth, Scotland in 1920, the son of Elizabeth (née Turnbull) and James William Davie, an art teacher and painter who ...

, who has achieved an International reputation, and was a contemporary of Cumming, has given rise to many interesting comparisons. This was succinctly put by the critic and artist Edward Gage in 1977: "Cumming's language is drawn logically from scientific research and procedure while Davie's is a haphazard and personal affair of ritual symbols and dances". Aside from a series of carefully composed still lifes, many of Cumming's later works were derived from investigations into recent discoveries with the electron microscope. This latter period has its apotheosis in the painting 'Metaphase' (Acceleration) 1971, which demonstrates Cummings exceptional abilities in composition, draughtsmanship and his acute colour sensitivity. Cumming's paintings, spanning a 30-year period, were celebrated in 2012 in a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh.

Chronology

*1922: Born Dunfermline *1939–41: Studied Edinburgh College of Art, Andrew Grant Scholar *1941–46: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve *1950: Appointed Tutor in the Painting School, ECA. *1951: Royal Scottish Academy Award *1958–61: President Society of Scottish Artists *1964: Awarded International Scholarship in the Humanities, Harvard USA *1966: Retrospective Exhibition, Dunfermline *1969–73: Member of the National Broadcasting Council for Scotland. *1970: Elected Academician of the Royal Scottish Academy *1973–78: Treasurer of the RSA *1974: Member of the National Council for Academic Awards, London *1978–80: Secretary of the RSA *1980: Lothian Region Prize in the RSW Centenary Exhibition *1982: Retired from Teaching *1990: Saltire Society Award for mural ''The Community: A Festival of Time'', Linlithgow

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cumming, James 1922 births 1991 deaths 20th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Edinburgh College of Art Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Presidents of the Society of Scottish Artists 20th-century Scottish male artists