John Byrne RSA 1940-2023

Overview

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, John Byrne was one of the most inventive and contrary artists working in modern Scotland. Both stylistically and in terms of subject matter his work fizzes off in all directions, always however underpinned by technical mastery. He is probably more widely known for his work in the theatre and television, particularly The Slab Boys and Tutti Frutti. As a painter he is quite without parallel. As his friend Robbie Coltrane wrote in 2000 of Byrne's sketches: 'if I could draw like that I would give up everything else in my life'.

 

John’s formal life as an artist began aged 18 when he entered Glasgow School of Art. His mother said he started drawing in his pram. A year before entering the art school, he started at A. F. Stoddart & Co in Paisley - a “Technicolour hell hole” - as a “slab boy”. Much of what was to come, visually and literally, drew on what John observed there. 

 

John returned to the carpet factory in 1966 during which time he secured an exhibition - and his passport out of factory life - at the Portal Gallery, London under the pseudonym “Patrick”. Having passed himself off as a self-taught naïf, he was given an exhibition. The dream-like images that made up the show met with success. His ruse was uncovered and from here he went on to design record covers for The Beatles, Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty; and to co-write songs with the latter.

 

From the early 1970s John diversified into writing, designing and directing stage and screen productions: Writer's Cramp (1977) and then a story of three workers in a Paisley carpet factory who dream of escaping to pursue a life in rock and roll in The Slab Boys (1978). In 1986 he wrote the cult television series Tutti Frutti, starring Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson and Richard Wilson, which tells the story of the silver jubilee tour of the rock band The Majestics. Perhaps because of the immense success of these productions his prodigious talent as an artist was temporarily over-shadowed. He didn’t stop, however, but continued instead to design theatre sets and costumes.

 

In the decades that followed an extensive iconography unfolded amounting, in some cases, to a kind of pictorial autobiography. Paintings of 1950s Ferguslie Park - Feegie - captured what was once an invention, the “teenager”, as this strange new being emerged in the artist’s own youth. In his Underwood Lane series, the Teddy Boys who loiter are reminiscences of his own past. These pictures often referenced filmic and theatrical worlds, their backdrops lit like stage-sets. Nocturnal themes abounded: moonlit woods; the streets of 1950s Paisley; the self-examining artist, alone and wreathed in cigarette smoke. In a finely balanced act, he pulled together the macabre and humour.

 

Please contact us to consign works or enquire after available works by this artist.

 

View ADDITIONAL available prints by John Byrne

Works
  • John Byrne RSA, Miss Walkinshaw with Willie Curry, c.1997
    John Byrne RSA
    Miss Walkinshaw with Willie Curry, c.1997
    signed and inscribed 'Elsie Walkinshaw'
    watercolour and pencil on paper
    14 ½ x 21 ½ inches
  • John Byrne RSA, 'Bomba' from Tutti Frutti, c.1985-86
    John Byrne RSA
    'Bomba' from Tutti Frutti, c.1985-86
    signed and inscribed 'Bomba'
    ink, gouache and gesso on card
    5 ½ x 9 ½ inches
    John Byrne RSA, 'Bomba' from Tutti Frutti, c.1985-86
    £ 2,400.00 + 4% ARR
  • John Byrne RSA, Black Guy New York, 2020
    John Byrne RSA
    Black Guy New York, 2020
    signed
    oil and pencil on board
    28 ¼ x 17 inches
  • John Byrne RSA, Black Lives Matter, 2020
    John Byrne RSA
    Black Lives Matter, 2020
    signed
    oil on board
    23 ¾ x 26 inches
  • John Byrne RSA, Red 'Kerchief, 2020
    John Byrne RSA
    Red 'Kerchief, 2020
    signed and numbered 20/30 in pencil to margin
    screenprint
    edition of 30
    22 ¼ x 12 ¾ inches
    John Byrne RSA, Red 'Kerchief, 2020
    £ 1,700.00
  • John Byrne RSA, Angel in my Head, 2012
    John Byrne RSA
    Angel in my Head, 2012
    signed, titled and numbered 10/10 in pencil to margin
    etching
    edition of 10
    3 x 2 ¾ inches
    John Byrne RSA, Angel in my Head, 2012
    £ 480.00 (unframed)
  • John Byrne RSA, Still Life with Guitar, Bust and Running Man, 2012
    John Byrne RSA
    Still Life with Guitar, Bust and Running Man, 2012
    signed
    oil, pen, ink and watercolour on card
    10 x 10 ¼ inches
  • John Byrne RSA, Him and Me, 2010
    John Byrne RSA
    Him and Me, 2010
    signed
    ink on scraperboard
    5 ¾ x 7 inches
    John Byrne RSA, Him and Me, 2010
    £3,250 + 4% ARR
  • John Byrne RSA, First Love, 2009
    John Byrne RSA
    First Love, 2009
    signed, titled and numbered 2/10 in pencil to margin
    hand-coloured screenprint
    edition of 10
    14 x 10 ½ inches
    John Byrne RSA, First Love, 2009
    £ 3,000.00 (unframed)
  • John Byrne RSA, Satyr, 2008/2009
    John Byrne RSA
    Satyr, 2008/2009
    signed and numbered A/P; cast in an edition of 9 + 6 Artist's Proofs
    bronze
    9 inches height (12 inches incl. base)
  • John Byrne RSA, Satyr, 2008/2009
    John Byrne RSA
    Satyr, 2008/2009
    signed; cast in an edition of 9 + 6 Artist's Proofs
    bronze
    9 inches height
  • John Byrne RSA, Jamaica Street, 2007
    John Byrne RSA
    Jamaica Street, 2007
    signed, titled and inscribed 'A/P' in pencil to margin
    screenprint
    edition of 22
    14 ¼ x 19 ¾ inches
    John Byrne RSA, Jamaica Street, 2007
    £ 1,800.00 (unframed)
  • John Byrne RSA, Red Tattooist, 2005
    John Byrne RSA
    Red Tattooist, 2005
    signed, titled and numbered 23/30 in pencil to margin
    mezzotint
    edition of 30
    4 ½ x 5 ¾ inches
    John Byrne RSA, Red Tattooist, 2005
    £ 960.00
  • John Byrne RSA, Study of Steven Campbell, 2005
    John Byrne RSA
    Study of Steven Campbell, 2005
    signed; inscribed 'Steven Campbell - Study' on frame verso; frame decorated by the artist
    oil on canvas
    16 x 12 inches
  • John Byrne RSA, Ex Voto, 2001
    John Byrne RSA
    Ex Voto, 2001
    signed 'Patrick', titled and numbered 20/20 in pencil to margin
    screenprint
    edition of 20
    20 ½ x 29 ½ inches
    John Byrne RSA, Ex Voto, 2001
    £ 1,800.00 (sold framed)
  • John Byrne RSA, Beach Boy with Cat and Fish, 1998
    John Byrne RSA
    Beach Boy with Cat and Fish, 1998
    signed, titled and numbered 24/30 in pencil to margin
    etching
    edition of 30
    10 ¾ x 8 inches
    John Byrne RSA, Beach Boy with Cat and Fish, 1998
    £ 960.00 (unframed)
  • John Byrne RSA, Fighting Cock, 1996
    John Byrne RSA
    Fighting Cock, 1996
    signed, titled and numbered 11/40 in pencil to margin
    etching
    edition of 40
    6 ¼ x 4 ¼ inches
    John Byrne RSA, Fighting Cock, 1996
    £ 650.00 (sold framed)
  • John Byrne RSA, Cow's Head, 1969
    John Byrne RSA
    Cow's Head, 1969
    signed
    oil on canvas
    18 x 22 inches
  • John Byrne RSA, Boy on the Beach
    John Byrne RSA
    Boy on the Beach
    signed Patrick and inscribed 'Clouds', 'Blue Sky', 'Boy on the Beach'
    ink, oil and watercolour on paper
    18 x 24 inches
  • John Byrne RSA, Double self portrait
    John Byrne RSA
    Double self portrait
    signed twice
    ink on paper
    11 ¾ x 8 inches
  • John Byrne RSA, Me and Him in striped top
    John Byrne RSA
    Me and Him in striped top
    initialled
    pencil on paper
    10 ¼ x 7 inches
  • John Byrne RSA, Moonstruck
    John Byrne RSA
    Moonstruck
    signed and inscribed 'A/P'
    lithograph
    23 ½ x 23 ½ inches
    John Byrne RSA, Moonstruck
    £ 3,200.00 (unframed)
  • John Byrne RSA, Owl & Siren
    John Byrne RSA
    Owl & Siren
    signed
    mixed media on paper
    14 x 10 inches
  • John Byrne RSA, Yellow face self portrait
    John Byrne RSA
    Yellow face self portrait
    signed
    ink and watercolour on paper
    11 ¾ x 8 inches
Exhibitions