On walking past a bookshop in Glasgow one day, James Tweedie’s attention was drawn by a small book of paintings by Georgio de Chirico.   He didn’t know it then but this became a defining moment in his life and was to be the signpost to a career that up to that moment he had thought little of.  James remembers being so moved by what he saw that he began to study and learn the techniques of this master.

Born in Manchester in 1951 James moved to Glasgow at an early age when his father received an RAF posting.  Glasgow has been his home ever since and the familiar urban landscapes and parks of his childhood have been the breeding ground on which his fertile imagine composes his paintings.  Once a painting has begun he allows time for it to develop.   Adding foreign elements here and there which he hopes will provide a spark and in turn will heighten and amplify the atmosphere, allowing a sense of mystery and drama. 

James is a regular contributer to the Royal Glasgow Institute, Royal Scottish Academy and the Paisley Arts Institute. He was elected a member of the RGI (Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts) in 2016. He has had many successful solo exhibitions and has exhibited his paintings in Maastricht, Amsterdam, Aacgen, Reims, Troyes and Paris with great success.  His work is collected worldwide.

Born Manchester,1951.

Lives and works in Glasgow.

 

Former member of Glasgow League of Artists, 1974/5 and The Glasgow Group, 1988/91.

Elected RGI (Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts) 2016.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

Compass Gallery, Glasgow: 1972, 1993, 2003, 2006, 2011

Hillhead Underground Gallery, Glasgow: 1981

Open Circle, Glasgow: 1986, 1989

Arts Guild, Greenock: 1987

The Inn on the Green, Glasgow: 1989

Cormund Gallery, Glasgow: 1990, 1991

Flagstones, Thurso: 1997

House for an Art Lover, Glasgow: 2007

Thompson’s Gallery, London: 2007, 2009, 2017

Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh: 2017

MIXED EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE:

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, regular exhibitor and….

Invited Artist, Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition 2010 curated by Ian McCulloch.

Society of Scottish Artists, Edinburgh

Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Glasgow, regular exhibitor.

Paisley Art Institute, Paisley

Kunsthaus, Nurnberg, W. Germany, 1985, exhibition of ‘Contemporary Scottish Art’ and touring to four other venues.

The Compass Contribution, ‘21 Years of Contemporary Art’, Tramway, Glasgow, 1990

‘Surrealist Tendencies in Contemporary Scottish Art’, Open Circle, Glasgow, 1990

Fundacion Alzate, Bilbao, Spain, 1990

‘Patron and Painters’, Smith Art Gallery & Museum, Stirling, 1995

‘Compass Celebrates the Life of Robert Burns’, touring exhibition to five venues, 1996

‘Pride and Passion’, RoyalScottish Museum, Edinburgh, 1996

‘A Patch of their Own’, Compass Gallery touring exhibition to seven venues, 1997/8

Critics Choice, (Clare Henry), Glasgow Art Club, 1997

‘Contemporary Scottish Art’, touring exhibition to Maastricht, Amsterdam, Aachen, Rheims, Troyes & Paris, 1997/8

Contemporary Art Fair, The Hague, Holland, April 1998

Art 1992-2010 inclusive, The Business Design Centre, Islington, London, with Compass Gallery

Glasgow Art Fairs, with Compass Gallery

Edinburgh Gallery, Edinburgh

Thompson’s Gallery, London

Red Rag Gallery, Stow-on-the-Wold

Langham Fine Art, Bury St. Edmunds

Glasgow Group 50th anniversary exhibition, Glasgow City Concert Hall 2008

Invited artist, Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition 2010

“The Force and Form of Memory”, Compass Gallery, Glasgow and thereafter touring to many venues across Scotland, throughout 2011/12.

Stafford Gallery, London 2012 – 2018 inclusive.

RSW (The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour), Edinburgh.

Realisme Art Fair, Amsterdam 2015, with Thompson’s Gallery.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

“We’re All Big Boys Now”, twenty minute film about Glasgow League of Artists, Siddharta Films, 1975

“Glasgow Group 1958-1990”; 36p ill.b/w, pub. Glasgow Group, 1990

“Surrealist Tendencies in Contemporary Scottish Art”; 32p ill. b/w, pub. Open Circle, Glasgow, 1990

(Author of introduction and notes on artists)

.“James Tweedie – New Glasgow Paintings”; 12p ill. Col & b/w pub. Compass Gallery, Glasgow, 1993

“James Tweedie – New Paintings”, 6 sided card, full colour, Compass Gallery, Glasgow, 2003

“James Tweedie  - Imagination & Reality” 6 sided card, full colour, Compass Gallery, Glasgow, 2006

“James Tweedie” 4 sided card, full colour, Thompson’s Gallery, London, 2007

“The Glasgow Group, 1958-2008”, 110p ill. colour throughout, Glasgow, 2008

“James Tweedie” 4 sided card, full colour, Thompson’s Gallery, London, 2009

“Away from Convention: Sophie Levi & James Tweedie” 24p full colour, Thompson’s Gallery, London, 2017

The Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition 2010 catalogue.

“The Dictionary of Scottish Painters, 1600 to the Present”, ed. Julian Halsby and Paul Harris, pub. Birlin 2010.

Works on the ArtUK website; https://artuk.org/discover/artists/tweedie-james-b-1951

AWARDS

Wm. Bowie award, Paisley Art Institute, 2003

Maude Gemmill Hutcheson Prize, Royal Scottish Academy, 2010

Scottish Arts Club Award, Royal Scottish Academy, 2015