Joseph Crawhall (20 August 1861 – 24 May 1913) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

born in

Morpeth, Northumberland Morpeth is a historic market town in Northumberland, North East England, lying on the River Wansbeck. Nearby towns include Ashington, Northumberland, Ashington and Bedlington, Northumberland, Bedlington. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 ...

Life

Crawhall was the fourth child and second son of

Joseph Crawhall II Joseph Crawhall II (1821–1896) was born at West House, Newcastle. He was a ropemaker, author, and watercolour painter. Life Crawhall, like his father (also Joseph), a Newcastle ropemaker, was interested in writing and watercolour painting. He ...

and Margaret Boyd. Crawhall specialised in painting animals and birds. He was born 20 August 1861 at Morpeth, Northumberland. He trained at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

before going to Paris to work with

Aimé Morot Aimé Nicolas Morot (16 June 1850 – 12 August 1913) was a French painter and sculptor in the Academic Art style. Biography Aimé Nicolas Morot, son of François-Aimé Morot and Catherine-Elisabeth Mansuy, was born in Rue d'Amerval 4 in Nancy ...

in 1882. In the 1880s and 1890s, his work became associated with the

Glasgow Boys The Glasgow School was a circle of influential artists and designers that began to coalesce in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1870s, and flourished from the 1890s to around 1910. Representative groups included The Four (also known as the Spook School ...

. He was strongly influenced by the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

, and his work, like theirs, was rejected by the art establishment, in his case in the form 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 1887/88 he visited

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 capit ...

with Pollock Nisbet, Robert Alexander and Robert's son

Edwin The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures. People * Edwin of Northumbria (die ...

. In the 1880s he travelled throughout Morocco and Spain, abandoning

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

and moving to

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

s with a lighter palette. In April 1894 art dealer Alexander Reid gave Crawhall his first one-man-show, at the inaugural exhibition at Reid's new gallery at 124 St Vincent Street in central Glasgow. The principal buyer of Crawhall's work from this exhibition was William Burrell. Reid had introduced Crawhall and Burrell at a private dinner party at his house on 13 April. He died in London in May 1913.

Legacy

Many of Crawhall's works are in the

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

and in the

Burrell Collection The Burrell Collection is a museum in Glasgow, Scotland, managed by Glasgow Museums. It houses the art collection of Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell. The museum reopened on 29 March 2022 with free entry, having been closed for r ...

. His works are few because he is known to have destroyed those he was unhappy with. A portrait of him by

Walter Westley Russell Sir Walter Westley Russell CVO RA (31 May 1867 – 16 April 1949) was a British painter and art teacher. He became a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1926 and served as Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools from 1927 to 1942. Life and ca ...

is in the

City Art Centre The City Art Centre is part of the Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, which sits under the Culture directorate of the City of Edinburgh Council. The City Art Centre has a collection which include historic and modern Scottish painting and photography ...

, Edinburgh. Joseph Crawhall, 1888 - The Aviary, Clifton.jpg, ''The Aviary'', Clifton, 1888 Joseph Crawhall, 1885c - The Forge.jpg, ''The Forge'', by 1885 Algeciras Bullring crop on right.jpg, '' Bullring in Algeciras'', 1891 Joseph Crawhall - The White Drake.jpg, ''The White Drake'', 1895,

National Gallery of Scotland The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by Wi ...

Joseph Crawhall Spangled Cock 1903.jpg, ''Spangled Cock'', 1903

Notes

External links

*
A selection of Crawhall's Spanish and Moroccan inspired works at the Burrell Collection
19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters Modern painters 1861 births 1913 deaths People from Morpeth, Northumberland Glasgow School Alumni of King's College London 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists {{England-painter-stub