John Houston, (1 April 1930 – 27 September 2008) was a Scottish painter. Houston was born in

Buckhaven Buckhaven is a town on the east coast of Fife, Scotland, on the Firth of Forth between East Wemyss and Methil. Buckhaven is on the Fife Coastal Path, and near to Wemyss Caves and Largo Bay. History The name Buckhaven is probably from the ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, raised in nearby

Windygates Windygates is a small village and surrounding district in central Fife, Scotland. The district encompasses the following villages, farms and estates; Wellsgreen Farm, Little Lun Farm, Woodbank Farm, The Maw (a former mining community on the Stand ...

, and educated at

Buckhaven High School Buckhaven High School was a six-year co-educational non-denominational comprehensive school in Buckhaven, Fife, Scotland. In the past, Buckhaven was Levenmouth's high school for pupils who passed their qualifying exam. The school's motto was '' ...

and

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 ...

. An early career as a semi-professional footballer with

Dundee United F.C. Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club c ...

was ended by a knee injury. Houston taught at Edinburgh College of Art between 1955 and 1989. He painted landscapes in an

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

style. His works are on display at many Scottish art galleries. He was elected to 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 1972 and was accorded a retrospective at the

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is part of the National Galleries of Scotland, which are based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The National Gallery of Modern Art houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1900 to th ...

in 2005. Houston received an Honorary Doctorate from

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

in 2004

Personal life

He was married to the painter Dame

Elizabeth Blackadder Dame Elizabeth Violet Blackadder, Mrs Houston, (24 September 1931 – 23 August 2021) was a Scottish painter and printmaker. She was the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy. In 1962 she began tea ...

until his death.

References

External links

*
Work in National Galleries of Scotland
nationalgalleries.org; accessed 19 May 2021. 1930 births 2008 deaths Scottish landscape painters Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Buckhaven High School People from Buckhaven Scottish footballers Dundee United F.C. players Scottish scholars and academics Expressionist painters Royal Scottish Academicians Place of death missing Association footballers not categorized by position {{UK-painter-20thC-stub