Robert Burns (artist)

Robert Burns HRSA RSW (Edinburgh, 1869–1941) was a Scottish painter, limner and designer. He was an early exponent of the Art Nouveau style in Scotland and an outstanding decorative artist.

Life
49 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh

Burns was born in Edinburgh in 1869.

He moved to Glasgow as a young man and attended evening classes at Glasgow School of Art.[1] On being advised by Edward Arthur Walton to pursue a career in art, he left Scotland for London where he enrolled as a student at Professor Fred Brown's school at Westminster. In 1889 he moved to Paris and for the next two years he studied at the Académie Delécluse under Auguste Joseph Delécluse, Paul Delance and Edward Frederick Ertz. After traveling in North Africa, he returned to Edinburgh. He followed the example of the Arts and Crafts movement artists, employing a variety of materials in handicraft works with a view to furthering the relationship between arts, commerce, and industry.

Burns was closely associated with Patrick Geddes' Fin de Siècle Scottish cultural revival. He contributed illustrations to all four volumes of The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal published by Patrick Geddes and Colleagues between 1895 and 1897.[2][3][4][5] His Natura Naturans, which appeared in The Book of Winter in 1895 is believed to have influenced Gustav Klimt's Fishblood (1898).[6] He also designed costumes for Geddes' historical pageants.

Burns' most famous and complete designs were for the Crawford's Tea Room (1926), which was located on Hanover Street[7] just off Princes Street in Edinburgh.

Burns combined commercial work and teaching, becoming the Head of Drawing and Painting at the Edinburgh College of Art, where he taught from 1908 to 1919.[8]

By the early 20th century Burns was already fairly successful, allowing him to purchase 49 Northumberland Street; a large Georgian town house in Edinburgh's New Town, where he converted the attic into a large studio space.[9]

Works
  • Diana and Her Nymphs
  • The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens
  • Sir Galahad
  • Waiting for the Ferry
  • The Window Seat
  • Adieu Schubert
  • Girl with Falcon
  • John Knox preaching in St Giles
  • Before the Looking Glass
  • Woman at her Toilet
  • Natura Naturans
  • Diana and her Nymphs, mural painting from the Crawford's tearoom of Edinburgh, c. 1926.

References
  1. Martin Andrew Forrest (1982), Robert Burns (1869 - 1941), in Michael Cuthbert (Ed.) (1982), On the Side of Life: Patrick Geddes 1854 - 1932), Edinburgh College of Art, p. 10
  2. The Evergreen:A Northern Seasonal: The Book of Spring, Patrick Geddes and Colleagues, Edinburgh (1895)
  3. The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal: The Book of Autumn. Patrick Geddes and Colleagues, Edinburgh (1895)
  4. The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal: The Book of Summer, Patrick Geddes and Colleagues, Edinburgh (1896)
  5. The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal: The Book of Winter, Patrick Geddes and Colleagues, Edinburgh (1896)
  6. Michael Shaw (2019) The Fin-de-Siècle Scottish Revival: Romance, Decadence and Celtic Identity, Edinburgh University Press, p. 116
  7. "Robert Burns (1869–1941)". Art UK. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
  8. "Robert Burns - Artist - The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh". fasedinburgh.com. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
  9. Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1911–12
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