Robert Houston (1891 –1942), Scottish

Robert Houston was born in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire on 5th June 1891. He studied at Glasgow School of Art, where he was a contemporary of Gordon Thomas. He was a painter in oils and watercolors of mainly coastal scenery анд landscapes of the Britain’s west coast and western isles and Scottish lakes and figurative subjects. He was also a noted aquatintist and designed and executed railway posters, for which his strong sense of design and use of solid color was ideally suited. He was elected to membership of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolors (RSW) in 1936. He exhibited widely, at the Royal Academy (6 works), Royal Scottish Academy (8), RSW (11), Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (34). He is represented in Glasgow Art Gallery & Museum.

Robert Houston was serving the British Army in Macedonia in 1917 and 1918. He was stationed in Thessaloniki and he painted numerous watercolors and drawings from the regions of Thessaloniki, Lake Dojran and Belasica Mountain. A large collection of his Macedonian drawings from 1917 and 1918 were sold by Christie’s London UK, on 18th  May 2000 (lot number 165). The drawings were entitled as: Near lake Dorian; Salonika from the water; Derbend; foothills, Kalinova; Sedes; Snow on Hortiach; Kalinova; Belashitza mountains; Salonika; a wet day Salonika; the lake and town of Doiran; the road to Salonika; and figures on a track with a view of Salonika in the distance, the majority signed ‘Robert Houston’, inscribed and dated from ‘1917-1918’.

Also the author of this lexicon has obtained 6 watercolors from auction house Christie’s London on 20 Sep 2011 ( lot number 397) with landscapes from Salonica (Thessaloniki), Lake Dojran, Kalinovo (in Greek: Soultogiannaiika), Chugunci (in Greek: Megali Sterna) from 1917.

Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 Macedonian landscape 1917-1918 watercolor
Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 Macedonian landscape 1917-1918 watercolor
Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 A Black Watch soldier on sentry duty Salonika 1917 watercolor
Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 A Black Watch soldier on sentry duty Salonika 1917 watercolor
Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 A Black Watch soldier on sentry duty Salonika 1917 watercolor
Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 A Black Watch soldier on sentry duty Salonika 1917 watercolor
Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 Near Lake Dojran 1917 watercolor
Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 Near Lake Dojran 1917 watercolor
Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 Cugunci Μεγάλη Στέρνα 1917 watercolor
Robert Houston RSW 1891-1942 Cugunci Μεγάλη Στέρνα 1917 watercolor

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About Me

Vlatko potpis s

This lexicon is a result of my 15 years long period of researching & documenting the personalities and the artworks of the foreign painters, sculptors, illustrators, and photographers having visited different spots of the geographic territory of Macedonia, there having created works of art there over a 100-years long period i.e. between 1850-1950. Their presence and artwork in the Macedonian milieus represent a notable cultural heritage to the international linkage of the ethnic Macedonians as well as to all the ethnicities living in the picturesque territory of Macedonia and the cultures of modern-day countries spread over parts of the geographic territory of Macedonia. Witnessing the artistic contributions of the foreign artist, we are proud of their Macedonia-themed creative works and experiences. I believe that their artworks, having been inspired and created over the vast region of Macedonia, unite us all in these challenging times, and under the facts and the values of the artistic beauty.

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