William Crozier
(1893 - 1930)

 

William Crozier was a Scottish landscape painter. Born in Edinburgh, Crozier studied at Edinburgh College of Art and was a fellow student and friendly with William Geissler, William Gillies, Anne Redpath, Adam Bruce Thomson and William MacTaggart. These artists are all associated with The Edinburgh School.
Crozier suffered from haemophilia and was affected by ill health for most of his life. He died aged only 37 after a fall in his studio. An exhibition of his work was given at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh in 1995

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Crozier_(Scottish_artist)

Edinburgh (from Salisbury Crags)
C. 1927
oil on canvas
71,1× 92,2 cm
National Galleries Scotland
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/452

This is one of a number of paintings by Crozier which show views of Edinburgh. The work shows strong affinities with Cubism, in the way the buildings are reduced to simple cubic blocks. The use of light, with the sunlit fronts of the buildings contrasting with the deeply-shaded sides, is influenced by the strong sunlight found in Italy, where the artist had travelled several years previously on a travelling scholarship. During this same trip, Crozier had also studied with the painter André Lhote in Paris, who taught him how to break down a subject geometrically, as in this painting.