David Ewart ARSA 1901-1965

David S. Ewart was born in Shettleston in 1901. He studied at Glasgow School of Art under Maurice Greiffenhagen, R,A., and Fra. H. Newbery, the first Principal of the School. He won a Travelling Scholarship to Paris and Rome and taught in the School for a period. In 1926, he received the Guthrie Award.

In his early years, he painted many commanding landscapes notably of the Cuillins and Loch Coruisk inSkye and of the Three Sisters of Glencoe, but soon he began to concentrate on portraiture, in which he could utilise his unfailing flair for capturing a likeness.

In the Second World War, after a short spell with the Clyde River Patrol, he served with the Special Branch of the R.N.V.R. Training Establishment at Greenwich College and Harwich, and was promoted Lieutenant- Commander.

Mr. Ewart was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1934, was a Member of the Glasgow Art Club from 1925, and served on the Council of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts. He is represented in many Galleries, and notable examples of his work include portraits of Sir John Stewart and Sir Hector McNeill (both Lord Provosts of Glasgow). Lord Thomson of Fleet was one of his recent sitters, and the portrait hangs in the Head Office of the Scotsman.

Mr. Ewalt visited the United States regularly from 1946 to 1964, where for six months each year he painted portraits of American industrialists and their wives. Mr. Ewart died in a Glasgow Nursing Home on 12th October, 1965, and is survived by his wife, a son, and two daughters.

RSA Obituary by William MacTaggart & WM. H. Kininmonth. Transcribed from 1965 RSA Annual Report