Robert Henderson Blyth (21 May 1919 – 18 May 1970) was a Scottish landscape painter and artist.

Life and work

Blyth was born in the Newlands area of Glasgow and studied at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

from 1934 to 1939. Blyth joined the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

in 1941 and served with them until the end of the Second World War. During the war Blyth continued to paint and sketch, whilst on active service in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Four paintings from this period were acquired by the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

. Towards the end of the conflict Blyth's unit, 157 Ambulance, was based in Hamburg much of which had been devastated by RAF bombing raids in 1943. Blyth used the background of a destroyed city in his most famous painting, ''In the Image of Man''. Painted after the war ended the painting's title parodies the Judeo-Christian concept of man made in the image of God and shows a city in ruins behind a bomb damaged crucifix. In 1945 Blyth won the Guthrie Award from 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 1946 he painted ''Existence Precarious'', a self-portrait as a soldier in a trench, which is now in the

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 ...

. Also in 1946 he began teaching at the

Edinburgh School 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 ...

and became an artist in residence at

Hospitalfield House Hospitalfield House is an arts centre and historic house in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland, regarded as "one of the finest country houses in Scotland". It is believed to be "Scotland's first school of fine art" and the first art college in Britain. ...

. In 1954 he moved to Aberdeen to take a post at

Gray's School of Art Gray's School of Art is the Robert Gordon University's art school, located in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of the oldest established fine art institutions in Scotland and one of Scotland's five art schools today, and ranked among the Top 20 ...

, where he became head of drawing in 1960, a post he maintained until his death in 1970. The

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

organised a memorial exhibition to Blyth which toured Scotland during 1972.

Memberships

* Associate

, 1949 * Member

Society of Scottish Artists The Society of Scottish Artists is a Scottish artist-run organization which seeks to ''promote and encourage experimentation and the "adventurous spirit" in Scottish art.'' It was founded in 1891 and its main space for annual exhibitions has bee ...

, 1949 * Member

Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours (RSW) is a Scottish organisation of painters. The first preliminary meeting of the society took place in Glasgow on 21 December 1877 as a reaction to a lack of interest in watercolour art by ...

, 1949, * Member

, 1958.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blyth, Robert Henderson 1919 births 1970 deaths 20th-century Scottish male artists 20th-century Scottish painters Academics of Robert Gordon University Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Artists from Glasgow British Army personnel of World War II British war artists People from Newlands Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers Royal Scottish Academicians Scottish male painters World War II artists