Portrait of a Jo James

This portrait depicts a young girl in a simple headscarf in a perspective that is almost a profile view. The dress and hair are vague, but Lawson has employed his attention to detail when depicting the face and headscarf - as a result, these are the areas that capture the viewer’s attention. The headscarf reflects the light in a way that suggests a silky texture, and the folds and shadows are rendered beautifully - particularly in relation to the difficult knot. The girl’s face - resolute as she gazes boldly ahead of her - is youthful, hinted at by her gently flushed cheeks. Lawson’s approach to portraiture is realistic and characterises this sitter as a poised woman.

An inscription verso indicates that this is a portrait of 15-year-old Jo James, painted in Settignano outside of Florence. This painting was likely completed in the late 1880s during Lawson's travels in Italy.

James Kerr Lawson
James Kerr Lawson was born in Fife, Scotland in 1862. At the age of 3, his family emigrated to Canada. Lawson studied at the Ontario School of Art in Toronto before returning to Europe to study at the Academia Julian in Paris. He briefly returned to Ottowa in 1885, but by 1887, was in Rome.

After 1887, Lawson was based in Europe, although he retained connections with the art world in Canada and exhibited there with Toronto’s Canadian Art Club. He initially lived in Glasgow and was a leading member of the Glasgow Art Club. In 1903, he moved to London and used it as a base from which to travel to France, Spain, Italy and Morocco. Lawson was, in 1908, a founding member of the Senefield Club, who sought to revive lithography as a practice. He also designed posters for the Underground Group. Lawson served in the First World War and was commissioned by the Canadian Government to paint the ruins of Arras and Ypres for the war record. 

James Kerr Lawson passed away in 1939, leaving a legacy as a portraitist, lithographer, and muralist. His work is in key collections such as the National Portrait Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Walker Art Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery.