James Coutts MichieARSA (19 July 1859 – 18 December 1919) was a Scottish painter who specialised in landscapes and portraits.[1]
Overview
He was born James Michie at Marywell in the parish of Birse near Aboyne, Scotland, the third son of a merchant, Harry Michie, and Elizabeth Coutts, who had eleven children.[2] He studied under Joseph Farquharson at the Trustee Academy in Edinburgh and later with Carolus-Duran in Paris. He travelled in France, Italy, Spain, Morocco, living in Tangier for several years[3] before settling in England about 1893. Several of his paintings are in the Aberdeen Art Gallery. Amongst these is a painting of Elizabeth Crombie Duthie (1885) who in 1883 gave Duthie Park to the city of Aberdeen in memory of her uncle and brother. Coutts Michie was a member of the Aberdeen Artist's Society and the Society of Scottish Artists. Later he became an adviser to the collector George McCulloch and married his widow, Mary, in 1908.[1] In 1910 they had a country house built at Haslemere in Surrey which they named Oak Hall. Later Oak Hall, which is now a Grade II listed building, became the Wispers School for Girls which closed in 2008 and has been converted into retirement apartments.
McCulloch's art collection included a number of paintings by Coutts Michie,[4] Home from the Hill, now in the Broken Hill Art Gallery NSW, Portrait of Mrs George McCulloch, Harvest, Autumn Sunshine, and a sketch of Mrs Alexander McCulloch.
Mary, his widow, donated a portrait of Coutts Michie by John Pettie to the Aberdeen Art Gallery in 1920.[5] The image above is part of a larger photograph showing Coutts Michie seated on the edge of a table in front of a large painting The Daphnephoria by Lord Leighton.
Coutts Michie's sister Mary Michie was a watercolourist, flower painter and art teacher;[1] she lived and worked mostly in Aberdeen.
Timeline
1882 Awarded Travelling Scholarship by Royal Scottish Academy [6]
1888 'Autumn Landscape' and the 'Snake Charmer' exhibited [7]
1905 Treasurer - Robert Brough Art Scholarship in memory of Robert Brough ARSA who was killed in the Midland Scotch express accident in January 1905.[16] The express had run into the back of a mail train in fog and caught fire.
Sir John McFadyean LLD, abt 1907, Royal College of Veterinary Science
Snow Scene, abt 1905, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Street in Tangier, Aberdeen Art Gallery
Winter in Surrey, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Winter Scene, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Woman with Pigeon, 1887/89, Angus Council
A Young Fisherman, 1880
A Glade in a Birch Wood, 1894
Normandy Orchard, 1885
Appreciation
His landscape paintings mostly appear to lack the detail of some Scottish painters of his time such as James Guthrie who painted 'To Pastures New', but the portrait of his friend Sir David Murray radiates warmth and is charming. That said, he contributed to the world of art in other ways by helping to organize exhibitions both at home and abroad.
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