William Crozier ARSA, 1897-1930

The legacy of a childhood accident forced the Edinburgh-born Crozier to abandon a business career. He had always been interested in art, and, in about 1915, enrolled at Edinburgh College of Art. A bursary enabled him to travel to France and Italy in 1923-24. In Paris, like several other students from the college, including William Gillies, he studied at the academy founded by André Lhote, a painter who has been strongly influenced by Cubuism. Crozier made many further visits to France and Italy, becoming deeply immersed in their cultures, and is noted for his sensitive and highly individual depictions of the scenery. Crozier was an important figure in the development of the Edinburgh School despite his early death: a haemophiliac, he died at thirty-three.