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This website about the life and work of Ralph Cowan has been put together a number of years after his death by his son and daughter, David Cowan and Diana Stoker.
The idea for a website had been in the back of our minds for some years. Then in 2018 we were invited to speak at the opening of a small gallery inside Glasgow City College dedicated to him. The dedication came about because the college was built on the site of Allan Glen’s school where Ralph had taught.
“… here was a gallery in his name to display other artists work but there was nowhere where Ralph’s work could be seen
So, here was a gallery in his name to display other artists work but there was nowhere where Ralph’s work could be seen. We felt his works of art deserved a life rather than languishing in our cellars and cupboards or in the vaults of Glasgow Museums Resource Centre where a considerable amount of his work resides.
When Ralph died in 2004 the family home was cleared and a large number of paintings, photos and other material divided between us. Fortunately, we both had space and inclination not to throw anything away. When constructing this website some parts were quite easy. The paintings we had could easily be photographed. The Christmas cards he designed, the Haiku illustrations and the books of paintings were also easily photographed and cropped.
“Like many children we regretted not asking more questions when we had the chance”
The assembling of other material was problematic for a number of reasons. We were soon aware that there was much about Ralph’s career that we didn’t know or were only dimly aware of.
Like many children we regretted not asking more questions when we had the chance.
Ralph had often talked about the 46-foot window of Saint Andrew he had designed for the 1938 Empire Exhibition held at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow. From newspaper articles we discovered that he had also designed stained glass for two temporary churches on the site. Did these windows still exist for us to photograph? With the help of the Scottish Stained Glass Trust, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of Scotland we discovered that they did exist and where they were. (See slides 11 and 14 of the Stained Glass section)
“… what happened to the 46-foot window - we hoped it might still exist but sadly it seems it doesn’t”
We were very keen to know what happened to the 46-foot window. We hoped it might still exist but sadly it seems it doesn’t. From a newspaper snippet found in the Glasgow’s Mitchell Library we concluded that along with all the buildings on the 145-acre site it had been broken up and sold for scrap when the exhibition closed. Fortunately, we had a picture of this sandblasted window.
“… we discovered that a stained glass restorer had saved the 16 foot window and it now resided in her home”
On the stained glass front we were highly aware of Ralph’s windows for the Broom church in Newton Mearns. We also had a vague memory of another window for a church in Buckie in the north of Scotland but what church? It turned out that the church in question closed in the 1970s.
Again, with the help of the Scottish Stained Glass Trust we discovered that a stained glass restorer had saved the 16-foot window and it now resided in her home.
Her partner kindly photographed it for us. From newspaper cuttings we found two further churches in the Glasgow area that had Ralph’s windows, one since closed, but the windows in both survive. (again, see slides 12 and 13 of the Stained Glass section)
“On the Main Deck was the forward-facing semi-circular Winter Garden. At its entrance was a large glass screen which stood in mullions of bronze and carried an etched design by Ralph Cowan entitled "The Birth of Life". (RMS Queen Elizabeth The Ultimate Ship)
The work he did on ocean liners presented similar challenges. Ralph had often spoken about work in did on the RMS Queen Elizabeth (the QE1 launched in 1939). He was very proud of this but strangely there were no references of any kind in his records. In the Caird Library, National Maritime Museum we discovered a mention in an out-of-print book by Clive Harvey:
“After extensive searches we were only able to find one photograph of the Winter Garden”
After extensive searches we were only able to find one photograph of the Winter Garden and we think The Birth of Life is along one wall. Lots of interior photos were taken of the ship – many of First and Cabin Class lounges - but it seems that the Tourist Winter Garden only merited one!
He had mentioned other ships and in his records there were unattributed photographs of etched glass and other designs. Newspaper articles enabled us to link these to the two liners – the Kenuta and Empress of England. There is another liner Raine del Mar but the work he did still eludes us.
The task of linking photos or designs found in his records to their respective projects was a recurring issue. It was relatively easy to match photographs of etched glass to titles in exhibition catalogues. It was also possible to relate photos of decorative glass to commercial and public buildings. However, we had some trouble matching transparencies and slides of abstract paintings to the catalogue titles. Ralph always titled his work so it was important to do this.
“No effort with Photoshop was able to make the text sufficiently legible”
Committing Ralph’s work of Genesis to slides on the website also proved problematic. The work’s composition has the bible text on the left-hand side with an associated and echoing painting on the right. Difficulty arose because the text was written in pencil and on yellow tinged paper. No effort with Photoshop was able to make the text sufficiently legible. All the text therefore required reworking, a considerable task; this enabled the text to be more readable but still true to the original.
Ralph also produced designs for an assortment of organisations – certificates of society membership, ex-libra library stamps, a book token, Christmas cards for a number of organisations and even a design for a CD cover. As these were minor items and the site is already quite full, we decided not to include them.
“Galleries are reluctant to divulge the details of buyers”
There were a number of other things we wanted to include on the site but were unable to. For example, we knew that there was a fabric design produced by Donald Brothers but have been unable to locate it. There are also many stage designs for the Curtain Theatre, but again no record. However, the biggest omission is paintings that went to exhibition and were sold without photographs being taken.
Galleries are reluctant to divulge the details of buyers and paintings that were bought many years ago will now have been passed down to children and grandchildren. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the work shown here is enough to give a representative coverage of his work. It is hoped that at some point in the future it will be possible to have a retrospective exhibition that will encompass the full range and variety of his output.
We would like to thank the following people and organisations for the help they gave us in locating the material and putting this site together.
We would particularly like to thank Mia Jenkins for taking some photographs and very valuable advice about the overall design of the site. Also, great thanks to Merlin Rouse for all the programming behind the site and for digitally repairing many of the photos from Ralph’s archive.