Robin Philipson (1916 – 1992)

Biography: Born in Broughton-in-Furness, Robin Philipson KBE RA RSA FRSE RSW moved with his family to Scotland in 1930. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art (1936-40), and after war service in India, Burma and Singapore, became a lecturer there in 1947. He was a significant and influential presence on the Scottish Art Scene for more than three decades. He was Head of School of Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art and eventually President of the Royal Scottish Academy, but was above all a practising painter. He was strongly influenced by Gillies and Maxwell, with whom, amongst others, he shared membership of the group known as The Edinburgh School, and his early work also echoed that of Oskar Kokoschka whom he met in London in the late1940s.
Philipson was well-known for his bold use of colour and his liberal use of heavy impasto, and he was particularly renowned for his expressionist cockfight paintings, a series begun in the early 1950s, influenced by his time in Burma. His work during 1960s included a series of Gothic cathedral interiors and crucifixions.
In 1976 he was knighted for his services to art in Scotland.