Peter Howson

Peter Howson was born in London in 1958 but moved to Ayrshire as a young child.

He spent a short time in the Infantry with the Royal Highland Fusiliers before attending the Glasgow School of Art, where he came to prominence in the 1980s as part of the New Glasgow Boys movement.

He specialises in dramatic figurative work that uses line and colour in an expressive and powerful manner. His portrayals of Glasgow’s down-and outs gained him a vast amount of public and media attention which resulted in his work being bought by the world’s most leading galleries and collected by a starry list of private clients including Madonna, Mick Jagger and David Bowie.

In 1993 Peter Howson was appointed the Official British War Artist for Bosnia. This inevitably bleak work provoking controversy when it was subsequently exhibited. His Balkan experiences brought to a head a series of problems that had been developing in his personal life and both his physical and mental health suffered.

In 2009 he was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s birthday Honors.