David West (artist)

David West, RSW, (1868-1936) was a watercolour painter of land, sea and sky. He was born on 12 November 1868 in Lossiemouth, the youngest of 12 children, and died 8 October 1936 in Glasgow following a seizure.

Life and career

He was the son of Captain James West who commanded a sailing schooner that traded between the Moray Firth, Aberdeen and the Baltic. His early education was at Lossiemouth and then Elgin Academy. West’s parents moved to Aberdeen in 1883 and so he became a pupil at the Aberdeen Grammar School which he left the following year to go to sea with his father. Before this, he found time to attend the Aberdeen Mechanics Institute and studied life drawing. During his time as a seaman he continued to paint culminating in his award of a gold medal at the Industry and Art Exhibition in Aberdeen in 1888. From 1889 to 1894, West exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy in London. That five year period saw him being accepted for the Royal Academy on successive years.

His exceptional ability in water colour painting was not long in being recognised, and when still in his twenties he had won for himself a wide reputation as a landscape painter. In 1892 he was commissioned by the Countess of Aberdeen to undertake a number of paintings for her. He was well rewarded by the Countess and so in early 1893 he traveled to Holland to study Dutch art. Always fond of his native Morayshire, he returned that same year to Lossiemouth and set up a...
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