SOUTER, John [Jack] Bulloch

1890 - 1972

John Bulloch Souter was born at Aberdeen on 4 June 1890, youngest the seven children of Alexander Souter, a clothier, and his wife Elsie née Cruikshank, who was also an accomplished artist who encouraged Jack's artistic talent. In 1891, a newly born, living at Fonthill Terrace, Old Machar, Aberdeen with his parents, 44-year-old Alexander and 40-year-old Elsie, with six siblings, Alexander 17, George 15, William 11, Annie 8, Elsie 6 and Radford 3. Known as Jack to his family and friends, he first attended Ferryhill School in Aberdeen progressing to Gray's School of Art, at Robert Gordon’s College at that time in Schoolhill. There he excelled in painting, drawing and sculpture and on graduating was awarded the Allan Fraser Scholarship for a period of four years at Hospitalfield Art College in Arbroath. In 1912, on the recommendation of Sir George Clausen, Souter was awarded the Byrne Travelling Scholarship by the Scottish Education Department. Armed with this £120 stipend and an excellent working knowledge of Spanish and French, he travelled to Madrid in May of that year to study the works of the Spanish masters in the Prado Art Gallery and Museum and the monetary awards Souter had received from the Colonel Innes Prize for Sculpture and the Robert Brough Travelling Scholarship, enabled him to extend his time in Spain and Europe. He served in the Gordon Highlanders during the First World War and later served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After the war, Souter’s commissioned portraits, including the Countess of Cranbrook, became an important source of income. He married at St Paul's Church, Hammersmith, London on 16 February 1926, a Scottish girl, Christian Mary Bella Gordon Reid (born 4 October 1892). A portrait and landscape painter in oils and although not strictly a Suffolk painter, Souter spent some time in Suffolk, using as his studio a barn at Higham owned by Douglas Doyle Jones and a dated portrait by Souter of the owner’s mother, shows the artist was in the county in 1936 and he sketched his Suffolk studio the year before. In 1939, a portrait painter, living at Valley Farm Cottage, Higham, Suffolk with his wife Christian. He exhibited at Redfern Gallery; the Fine Art Society; Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy 1914-1957. During World War II he worked in the Post Office Censorship Department as a translator whilst also restoring paintings at Windsor Castle. He returned to Aberdeen in 1952, when they inherited 'Kinnoull', 19 Anderson Drive from his sister, Anne. John Bulloch Souter died at Aberdeen on 10 May 1972.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from 2 Bon Accord Square, Aberdeen
1914 438 Caroline, daughter of ex-Provost Alexander Wilson
from 259 Union Street, Aberdeen
1918 508 Mrs Charlotte Walker
1924 476 Rustics
from 9 The Boltons Studio, Redcliffe Road, Southwest London
1925 483 Song from Afar
from 9 Queen's Mansions, Brook Green, West London
1927 379 Miss Fay Compton
1929 61 Vagrants
         351 Imagery
1930 597 Youth and Age
1931 373 Goddess in Portland
         798 A Kitchen Task
1932 673 Corfe Bread
from 3 Orchard Studios, Brooks Green, West London
1933 525 Oriana
1934 655 Sea-born Venus
1935 769 Evening at St. Savin
1936 383 Chelsea Conversation
1938 356 Lament for Spain
1943 417 Aurelia
         420 Winter Jasmine
1944 410 Porcelain and Pearl
         681 Cecilia
1945 439 Cantabile
         941 Figurine
1946 454 Girl in Grey
         520 Wood-wind
1950 177 Eggs
1951 136 Apricots
1952 306 Talking of Ballet
from 19 Anderson Drive, Aberdeen
1957 18 A Tattle of Teapots

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Works by This Artist