Peter Howson OBE (born 27 March 1958) is 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. He was a British official war artist in 1993 during the

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Early life

Peter Howson was born in

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of Scottish parents and moved with his family to

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

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, when he was four. He was raised in a religious family and the first ever painting he did was a

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, when he was 6 years old.

Career

His work has encompassed a number of themes. His early works are typified by very masculine working class men, most famously in ''The Heroic Dosser'' (1987). Later, in 1993, he was commissioned by the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

of London, to be the official war artist for the

. Here he produced some of his most shocking and controversial work detailing the atrocities which were taking place at the time, like ''Plum Grove'' (1994). One painting in particular, ''Croatian and Muslim'', detailing a rape created controversy partly because of its explicit subject matter but also because Howson had painted it from the victims' accounts. He was the official war painter at the

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for the ''

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''. In more recent years his work has exhibited strong religious themes which some say is linked to the treatment of his

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and

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at the

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in 2000, after which he converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. An example of this is ''Judas'' (2002) which His work has appeared in other media, with his widest exposure arguably for a British

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he did in 1999 to celebrate engineering achievements for the

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. In addition his work has been used on album covers by

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

(''

Throwing Copper ''Throwing Copper'' is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Live, released on April 26, 1994, on former MCA Records subsidiary Radioactive Records. It was produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and was recorded at Pach ...

''),

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(''

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'') and

Jackie Leven Jackie Leven (18 June 1950 – 14 November 2011) was a Scottish songwriter and folk musician. After starting his career as a folk musician in the late 1960s, he first found success with new wave band Doll by Doll. He later recorded as a sol ...

(''Fairytales for Hardmen''). His work features in major collections including Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, Edinburgh City Art Centre,

Glasgow Museums Glasgow Museums is the group of museums and galleries owned by the City of Glasgow, Scotland. They hold about 1.6 million objects including over 60,000 art works, over 200,000 items in the human history collections, over 21,000 items relating to ...

Resource Centre,

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, High Life Highland Exhibitions Unit, Huntarian Art Gallery, Jerwood Collection,

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art MIMA, or Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, is a contemporary art gallery based in the centre of Middlesbrough, England. The gallery was formally launched on Sunday 27 January 2007; since 2014 it has been part of Teesside University. His ...

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, Nottingham City Museums and Galleries, Rozelle House Galleries,

The Dick Institute The Dick Institute is a museum and library in Kilmarnock, Scotland. It is an important cultural venue in the south-west of Scotland, featuring the largest museum and art gallery space in Ayrshire as well as the central library for East Ayrshir ...

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and The Wilson. Howson was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours. In November 2010,

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

aired a documentary named "The Madness of Peter Howson" which followed the final stages of the completion of a grand commission for show in the renovated St Andrew's Cathedral and also dealt with Howson's struggle with mental illness and

Asperger's syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behav ...

. In September 2014, Howson suggested he would hand back his OBE, predominantly because of his dislike of British foreign policy but it is not clear if he ever did so. The film ''Prophecy'', directed by Charlie Paul and produced by Lucy Paul, is an intimate exploration of a single oil painting and the first major film to reveal the motive and techniques behind each stroke of paint Peter Howson creates. With a remarkably acute focus, the film follows the creation of Howson's painting ''Prophecy'', its exhibition and sale, as it travels from the artist’s studio in Glasgow to New York, before returning to London to enter the collection of a private buyer.

Bibliography

Monographs * Berkoff, Stephen, ''Peter Howson'', Flowers (2005) * Heller, Robert, ''Peter Howson'', Momentum (2003) * Jackson, Allan, ''A Different Man'', Mainstream Publishing (1997) * Heller, Robert, ''Peter Howson'', Mainstream Publishing (1993) Exhibition Catalogues * ''Harrowing of Hell'', 24 October - 22 November 2008, Flowers East * ''Christos Aneste'', 18 March - 7 May 2005, Flowers East * ''Inspired by the Bible'', 6–20 August 2004, New College, Edinburgh * ''The Stations of the Cross'', 11 April - 18 May 2003, Flowers East * ''The Third Step'', 13 April - 4 June 2002, Flowers East * ''The Rake’s Progress'', 12 January - 11 February 1996, Flowers East * ''Blind Leading the Blind'', 9 November- 8 December 1991, Flowers East

References

External links

Peter Howson profile
FlowersGallery.com
Peter Howson.net

Peter Howson website

Glasgow Print Studio (view Howson works on-line)

Asperger-Syndrome.me.uk * Donald Kuspit
Bipolar Paintings: PETER HOWSON, THE SCOTTISH BOSCH
artnet.com *
Peter Howson at National Portrait Gallery, London (npg.org.uk)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howson, Peter 1958 births Scottish people of Irish descent 20th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 21st-century Scottish painters 21st-century Scottish male artists Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Artists commissioned by the Imperial War Museum British war artists Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire Painters from London People educated at Prestwick Academy People from South Ayrshire People with Asperger syndrome Royal Highland Fusiliers soldiers Scottish contemporary artists Converts to Christianity Scottish Christians 20th-century Scottish male artists Neo-expressionist artists