Joseph Crawhall RSW, 1861-1913

Born in Morpeth, Northumberland, Crawhall was largely self-taught, apart from spending two months at the Atelier Aimé Morot in Paris in 1882. He relied on observation, memory and learning from the simplicity of Japanese art, then much in vogue. After meeting E.A. Walton in 1879 he became closely associated with the Glasgow Boys. Crawhall, Walton and James Guthrie developed a friendship and spent several seasons painting together in Scotland and Lincolnshire, and abroad. Crawhall visited Morocco in 1884, returning there often over the next nine years, and in Tangier he became a close friend of John Lavery.