Biography
James Kerr-Lawson (b. Anstruther, Scotland, UK 1865 - d. London, UK 1939) was a portrait painter and muralist who spent his childhood in Hamilton, Ontario. He surudied at the Ontario School of Art, 1879-1880 and was later at the Académie Julian in Paris. From 1887 he travelled and stayed in Rome as a 1950 gift of his watercolours and drawings to Royal Holloway Collge, University of London, Egham testifies. He was based in Glasgow for a while and finally settled in London where he was a founding member of the Senefield Club (1908), designed posters for the Underground Group, and was a member of the Canadian Art Club (1912-15). During the first World War he was commissioned by the Canadian Government to paint the ruined cities of Arras and Ypres as a war record. His work is in the London Transport Museum, National Portrait Museum, Ferens Art Gallery, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
