JIM Porteous Wood, the prolific Scottish artist, has died in Fort William at the age of 85.
James Porteous Wood had a brilliant international career as an artist and designer. He will be noted for his huge innovation and versatility which included landscapes, portraits and calligraphy and designs from architecture to jewellery. He was the Royal Scottish Watercolour Society's oldest exhibiting member, and when elected an RSW aged 26 in 1945 he was also the youngest ever to be elected. He was a Brother of the Art Workers' Guild. He exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Guildhall art gallery and Royal Academy in London. A coffee pot he designed is a permanent exhibit at the United Nations HQ in New York.
The Royal Appointment gold and silversmiths, Asprey of Bond Street, persuaded him to join them in London in 1956. As their director of art and design for 25 years, he produced numerous architectural and interior decoration perspective paintings, often conceived from architectural plans, of palaces in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand, Morocco and the US (UN HQ) , always visiting the sites to ensure their sympathy with their surroundings. He designed silver/gold dinner services and objets d'art in 3D drawings, contrary to usual practice of plans and elevations.
A notable commission was of a large gold rose bowl which was presented to President Eisenhower. He also designed furniture and race trophies, and was the first person to present the Guinness harp in three dimensions. Following on from the Faberge tradition, he designed statues of wild birds made in gold and semi-precious hardstone, carefully selected for their evocation of the creature or its terrain.
In 1982, after having left Aspreys, he was invited by King Hassan II to design a centre piece for the table of the Islamic conference. It depicted Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock and was reputedly the largest (175cms diameter) and most important piece of silver, enamel and fine engraving exported from the UK.
He painted numerous Scottish landscapes, which he enjoyed doing most, as well as portraits. His cityscapes included London, New York and Paris, of which he was particularly fond. His fine calligraphy included illuminated manuscripts on vellum, such as large genealogical trees of titled families showing all the arms with burnished gold.
During the Second World War, he was part of the design team at the Royal Engineers in Ripon, North Yorkshire, for the portable Bailey bridge, and made maps from photographs of enemy territory. Both will undoubtedly have saved many lives, but with characteristic modesty, he never spoke about this vital work.
He returned to live in Ripon, where he was a freelance artist and designer, and most of his commissions came from either Scotland or London. During this period his drawing of the Queen's Coronation in Westminster Abbey in 1953 was published the following morning as the complete front page in the national press. Every fortnight for seven years the Birmingham Post featured one of his large drawings they had commissioned, mostly public schools and major industrial subjects within 50 miles of Birmingham. Much of his work was of book illustrations.
His past 25 years were spent at his beloved Arisaig, where his studio had magnificent views of Rhum and Eigg. He worked prodigiously until shortly before his death, producing many evocative seascapes, landscapes and portraits. His paintings were exhibited in the Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Scottish Water Society.
With his billowing pipe and quickwit, he was a familiar and much-loved character in Lochaber. He sponsored an annual art prize for Mallaig High School to encourage young talent. When asked when he would retire, he answered defiantly: "I will never retire."And he never did.
He married Margaret Porteous Wood (nee McCombie) in 1946. They honeymooned in Arisaig, and even then he spent most of the time painting, while his new wife looked on with characteristic patience. The house where they stayed then was within sight of the shoreside house they designed together 30 years later.
He is survived by his widow, Margaret, and son Keith.
James Porteous Wood; born September 12, 1919, died April 19, 2005.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article