Sinclair Thomson (25 December 1915 – 24 July 1983) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

painter, born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

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 ...

. He won the

Guthrie Award The Guthrie Award is awarded annually with few exceptions to at most two recipients by the Royal Scottish Academy and is one of the most prestigious art awards in Scotland. It is named after the artist James Guthrie (artist), James Guthrie. Founda ...

in 1948 with his oil painting ''The White Shawl''.

Life

Sinclair Thomson was born in 1915 in Govanhill, Glasgow. His father was Donald Thomson (20 December 1878 - 25 July 1952) and his mother was Diana Sinclair Sutherland (2 May 1879 - 3 July 1947). They married in Lanark in 1904. They had four sons, including Sinclair; and one daughter Diana who did not survive infancy. Thomson went to school at

Allan Glen's School Allan Glen's School was, for most of its existence, a local authority, selective secondary school for boys in Glasgow, Scotland, charging nominal fees for tuition. It was founded by the Allan Glen's Endowment Scholarship Trust on the death, i ...

then at Townhead in the city of Glasgow. While there he suffered a rugby injury, injuring his knee, which led to the amputation of his leg at the age of 16. During the Second World War he became a

dispatch rider A despatch rider (or dispatch) is a military messenger, mounted on horse or motorcycle (and occasionally in Egypt during World War I, on camels). In the UK 'despatch rider' is also a term used for a motorcycle courier. Despatch riders were us ...

for the Civil Defence, as he remained able to ride a motorbike. This triggered a lifelong love of motorbikes. He became a teacher in the

High School of Glasgow The High School of Glasgow is an independent, co-educational day school in Glasgow, Scotland. The original High School of Glasgow was founded as the choir school of Glasgow Cathedral in around 1124, and is the oldest school in Scotland, and th ...

; and soon started teaching evening classes in pottery 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 ...

. Thomson married Florence Mary Jamieson (17 November 1925 - 9 December 2019) in 1946. They had one daughter. Florence was also a painter. They divorced in 1962. He married again in 1966. This was to Barbara Joan Ellen Carter (11 July 1923 - 19 March 2017), who like Thomson had been previously married. Barbara was previously one of Thomson's pottery students. The couple bought a summer home, Tig Cottage in Heronsford near Ballantrae; and for many years spent the winters in Glasgow and the summers in Ayrshire.

Art

He joined

in 1941. He studied painting under Hugh Adam Crawford. From 1947 he regularly exhibited at 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 ...

. He only exhibited paintings at the RSA. In only his second year exhibiting, in 1948 he won the

. His other paintings that year were ''Winter Landscape'' and ''Self Portrait''. He was elected Associate member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1952. He built a kiln at his home to continue his pottery and soon a number of students from his evening classes were attending his home for additional art classes. He created large pottery murals for Lanarkshire schools. In 1960 he got a permanent role at Glasgow School of Art becoming a lecturer in drawing and painting. He retired in 1975.

Death

He died in the summer of 1983 at Ballantrae. He was chatting to his wife Barbara and suddenly died.

Works

The

has a substantial collection of his work in their Art, Design and Architecture Collection. The Ruth Borchard Collection has ''Self Portrait With A Sun Hat''. Paisley Museum and Art Galleries have ''Wester Ross'' and ''Flower Study'' The

has ''Tig Cottage And The Smiddy, Heronsford, Ballantrae''. Low Parks Museum has ''Haystacks At Toward''. His pottery usually has the marks ST and a Celtic Cross.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Sinclair 1915 births 1983 deaths Scottish male painters Guthrie Award winners Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Scottish potters Academics of the Glasgow School of Art