Alexander Jamieson (1873-1937) Scottish
Corfu
Oil on board, 15cm by 20.5cm

See illustration

Alexander Jamieson was born in Glasgow, and trained at the Haldane Academy, now part of the Glasgow School of Art. In 1898 he won a scholarship to spend a year in Paris, which proved a formative experience that would influence his work for the rest of his life and spark an abiding love for France. In Paris Jamieson was exposed to the work of the Impressionists, many of whom he met. The young artist adopted their techniques, and he evolved a style that would span his career. Jamieson's work was characterised by this preference for painting en plein air, working wet-into-wet with bold, bravura brushstrokes to capture the transient nature of light.

By the early 1900s Jamieson had returned home and married his artist wife whom he met in Paris. Concentrating on painting landscapes and townscapes, often of Continental subjects, his reputation grew, and he exhibited at the likes of the Groupil and Carfax galleries in London. However, his life was interrupted by the First World War; enlisting, he served until 1919 and fought in the battles at Loos, the Somme and Arras.

After the war he settled in the Vale of Aylesbury and returned to depicting his favoured subjects but now placing a greater emphasis on the effects of light and shadow. In addition to exhibiting to great acclaim, Jamieson also taught painting on trips around the towns of France and Belgium, painting light-dappled towns, gardens and harbours. Indeed, in the foreword to the catalogue for Jamieson's memorial exhibition, Sir John Lavery wrote "He dipped his brush in light and air".

Alexander Jamieson died at the age of 63, the aftereffects of the War having taken a toll on his health. Examples of his work are held in the collections of the Louvre and the Tate.