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Thomson, Robert Sinclair, ARSA

1914 – 1983

Thomson was born in Glasgow on Christmas Day 1914 (and not 1915 as often cited) but was of Caithness descent. After winning a scholarship for entry to Allan Glen's School, he studied there for the next six years. While there, at the age of sixteen, he sustained an injury to his knee while playing rugby which led to the amputation of his leg. During the war and in spite of his disablement, he became a dispatch rider for Civil Defence, and this love of motorcycles was to be a lifelong obsession. In 1941 he went to the Glasgow School of Art and Studied Drawing and painting under Hugh Adam Crawford RSA. One of the enduring passions of his life was the making of pottery and he was fortunate in having a job by day in the High School within easy reach of Glasgow School of Art where he taught pottery in the evening classes. He received a commission for large figurative murals made of pottery tiles for schools in Lanarkshire. Many young artists found him a willing artist friend eager to help them and to put all his facilities and experience at their disposal, and so evolved the art classes in his home which brought together a nucleus of young students including Joan Eardley RSA. His first wife, Florence [Florence Jamieson], herself a good painter was part of the coterie. He was appointed in 1960 to be a lecturer in Drawing and painting in Glasgow School of Art and was a greatly loved and respected teacher there right up until ill-health forced him to retire in 1975. He was elected to Associate rank in the Royal Scottish Academy in 1952 and continued to exhibit there right up until the time of his death.



An image from the RSA collection.
Showing 1 to 12 of 14 associated works.

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Showing 1 to 12 of 14 associated works.

1 2 · Next