JAMES CUMMING R.S.A., R.S.W., S.S.A. (1922 – 1991)
“Three Vessels”
Oil Painting on Canvas. Signed
Provenance: Exhibited Marjorie Parr Gallery, Chelsea 1970s
From the collection
of Dr. D. Harris. Bears original
exhibition label IMAGE
“Blue Micrograph”
Oil Painting on Canvas. 36” x 36” (914 x 914mm). Signed
Provenance – Exhibited Marjorie Parr Gallery, Chelsea 1970s
The book “James Cumming”, an appreciation by Jack Firth,
accompanies this picture IMAGE
James
Cumming, painter and teacher, was born in Dunfermline,
Fife. He studied at
Edinburgh College of Art from 1939 to 1941 and then again from
1946 to 1950, after 5 years with the
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, for postgraduate work and travelling
scholarships. He exhibited in many mixed
shows in Britain and abroad. In
1955 he had a solo show at Gallery One in London with others following steadily, especially at the Loomshop
Gallery in Lower Largo, Fife and there was a series of retrospectives, including
Lothian Region Gallery, Edinburgh in 1981. Work by
James Cumming is in the collections of HRH
The Duke of Edinburgh and the Arts Council and Scottish National Gallery of
Modern Art. He was a member and
President of the Society of Scottish Artists.
He was Treasurer and Secretary of the Royal Scottish
Academy and a Member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in
Watercolour. He taught for many years at
Edinburgh College of Art. For a long
time Cumming drew his inspiration from
life on the Isle of Lewis, but in the early 1960s he changed course and
examined abstract themes, such as cellular structure, while retaining his
unique colouring. The Scottish Gallery
in Edinburgh, where Cumming lived, held a memorial show in 1995.
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