Peter Howson

Peter Howson, OBE, is a Scottish painter born in 1958. He spent a short time as an infantry soldier in the Royal Highland Fusiliers but left to study at the Glasgow School of Art in 1979. His work has encompassed a number of themes. His early works are typified by very masculine working class men, most famously in The Heroic Dosser (1987). Later he was the official war artist for the Bosnian Civil War in 1993. Here he produced some of his most shocking and controversial work detailing the atrocities which were taking place at the time. His work has appeared in other media with his widest exposure arguably for a British postage stamp he did in 1998 to celebrate the engineering achievements for the millennium. In addition his work has been used on album covers by Live (Throwing Copper), The Beautiful South (Quench) and Jackie Leven (Fairytales for Hardmen). His work is exhibited in many major collections  and is in the private collection of celebrities such as David Bowie, Mick Jagger, and Madonna who inspired a number of paintings in 2002. Selected public collections include the Contemporary Art Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Imperial War Museum and the British Arts Council.

Peter Howson exhibited in Éigse in 1992.

Art collection

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Origins

Set up in 1992, The Carlow Art Collection is a voluntary community initiative that has been surrounded by goodwill and generosity from the people of Carlow. It has expanded into a diverse collection of work with artists from around the world. CAC became a fully registered charity in 2018. The home of our art collection is in Carlow College. The Carlow Art Collection is free to view in the front halls of Carlow College, Monday to Friday, and in the garden every day of the year.

Today

The art works in the permanent collection include painting, print, drawing, sculpture, sound, photography, live art, film and activism, with more to come. The collection and CAC projects reflect a broad range of art by over thirty artists, many of whom visited, exhibited, engaged with or lived in the area.

Our Goal

The CAC is deeply indebted to the artists who contribute to the collection, to its board members past and present, and to the many people and organisations that support it technically and financially. The Carlow Art Collection will continue to expand on the ideas of what art is and what an art collection can be, and become.