RSA Scottish Art

Miss Barbara Graham Cowie

Small web image of Miss Barbara Graham CowieArtist: James Cowie
Title: Miss Barbara Graham Cowie
Year: c. 1938
Medium: oil on board
Dimensions:
Suggested topic:
Source: RSA Diploma Collection
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© the artist’s family 
Description: James Cowie's work remained distinctive from that of many of his contemporaries, through his reliance on strong draughtsmanship and the use of muted colours.This portrait of the artist's daughter, Miss Barbara Graham Cowie, shows his interest in earlier periods of art by including details that are derived from Italian Renaissance paintings, such as the heavily draped curtains, the open book and the figure of the Madonna in the background. The girl in her plain clothes stands calmly in contrast to the chaotic surroundings. Cowie has captured the stance of the girl almost in the way a photograph would; she is standing with one foot slightly forward, her right-hand fingers twiddling nervously, her left hand reaching for her necklace. Her facial expression is almost a little surprised, and she is looking slightly off to one side.The composition of this image is unusual. The image is framed by an oval shape or vignette. This focusses the eye towards the centre of the image, but it also make the image feel quite tight and enclosed. It becomes quite claustrophobic; the girl has very little room to move and is surrounded by many tumbling objects, and with a wall behind her. It almost feels like the viewer is trapping her in the corner she stands in.This tight compositional arrangement influences the mood of the painting. Has the girl been caught rummaging through things she is not meant to touch? Or was she playing in the attic and here immortalised by her father in an innocent pose? There is a poignant feeling to this canvas. The beautifully captured expression adds to the sense of an unsentimental view of Cowie's own daughter, without ceremony or exaggerated pride.