Major retrospective of renowned painter Peter Howson to open in May

A major retrospective of work by Peter Howson will offer a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to see works by the renowned painter, a curator has said.

The exhibition, which opens at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre in May, will bring together about 100 works spanning the artist’s career, many never seen before in Scotland.

Howson, born in London in 1958, studied at Glasgow School of Art and was appointed official British war artist for Bosnia in 1993.

David Patterson, City Art Centre Curatorial and Conservation Manager, has been planning the exhibition since 2019, working closely with Howson and his London gallery.

Mr Patterson said: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see works assembled from public and private collections.

“This retrospective will illustrate Peter’s consummate skill in a range of media and explore his religious work as well as his graphic responses to recent global events including the Covid pandemic and war in Ukraine.”

The exhibition, When the Apple Ripens: Peter Howson at 65: A Retrospective, opens at the centre on Market Street, Edinburgh, on May 27 2023 and runs until October 1 this year.

Howson has previously shown at the City Art Centre, with his critically acclaimed solo exhibition devoted to Scotland’s patron saint Andrew displayed there in 2007.

He was a focal member of the group of young artists to emerge from the Glasgow School of Art during the 1980s, dubbed the New Glasgow Boys, and is considered one of his generation’s leading figurative painters.

The artist, who lives in Glasgow, studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1975-77, and returned in 1979 to complete a Masters degree.

In 1985, he was made the Artist in Residence at the University of St Andrews and also became a part-time tutor at Glasgow School of Art.

He was made an OBE for services to visual arts in 2009.