Peter Howson

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, The Vigorous Imagination, 1987

 

The sheet is sound. On close inspection there appears to be a very minor scuff mark to the centre of the right hand edge. Otherwise in good original condition. Held in a simple gold painted wooden frame in fair condition. Under glass and unexamined out of frame.
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Working-class male figures often play a central role in Howson's work, and as seen in the present work, the artist elevates his subject to hero status. Dramatically lit, the painting is dominated by the enormous, solid figure of the Dosser, who powerfully clutches the nearby railing as if to steady himself against the surrounding mass of water in the background. Although isolated, he is proud, strong and defiant. Behind him, a foreboding-looking building looms ominously, possibly suggestive of a burden which he carries. At the time The Heroic Dosser was painted, the artist had a studio in the Gallowgate area of Glasgow, near to a hostel for the homeless. Howson made the painting from memory, based on a man he saw nearby. It is the first of a "dosser" series he produced in a variety of media.