John Houston (painter)

John Houston
Born(1930-04-01)1 April 1930
Buckhaven, Scotland
Died27 September 2008(2008-09-27) (aged 78)
Edinburgh
Alma materEdinburgh College of Art
AwardsGuthrie Award, 1960 (joint winner)

John Houston, OBE, RSA (1 April 1930 – 27 September 2008) was a Scottish painter.

Houston was born in Buckhaven, Fife, raised in nearby Windygates, and educated at Buckhaven High School and Edinburgh College of Art. An early career as a semi-professional footballer with Dundee United was ended by a knee injury in 1951.[1][2]

Houston taught at Edinburgh College of Art between 1955 and 1989.[3][4] In the late 1950s he co-founded and exhibited at the 57 Gallery, one of the first artist-run spaces in Edinburgh.[2] He painted landscapes in an expressionist style and was noted for his still life (flower and vase) subjects . His works are on display at many Scottish art galleries.[5] He was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1972 and was accorded a retrospective at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2005.[4][2]

Houston received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2004 [6]

Personal life

He was married to the painter Dame Elizabeth Blackadder until his death.[1] The couple lived in Queen's Crescent, Newington, and on Fountainhall Road, Edinburgh.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Packer, William (3 October 2008). "John Houston: Painter of the postwar Scottish school who found his truest subject in the landscape". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  2. ^ a b c Long, Philip (18 October 2008). "John Houston: Painter and teacher whose greatest subject was the Scottish landscape". The Idependent. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
  3. ^ "John Houston: Scottish painter and teacher". The Times. London, UK. 4 October 2008. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  4. ^ a b "Houston, John". Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford. 31 October 2011. doi:10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00089980.
  5. ^ "John Houston". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  6. ^ "HW Minutes 2004" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 January 2021.
  7. ^ Peploe, Guy, "Painters in Parallel: Elizabeth Blackadder (1931 - 2021) and John Houston (1930 - 2008)", in Modern Masters XVI, The Scottish Gallery, December 2023, p. 24 ISBN 9781912900787


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