William Crozier

Who was William Crozier?

William Crozier was a Scottish landscape painter.

Born in Edinburgh, Crozier studied at Edinburgh College of Art and was a fellow student and friendly with William Gillies, Anne Redpath and William MacTaggart. These artists are all associated with The Edinburgh School.

Assisted by a travelling scholarship, Crozier studied under the cubist painter André Lhote in Paris in 1923. He also travelled to Italy, where he was particularly taken by the bright sunlight and resultant deep shadows, a quality which he later sought to capture in his work. This aspect of his painting and the cubist influences are evident in his 1927 painting, Edinburgh. The buildings are represented as simple geometric blocks with intense contrast between the sunlit facades and heavily shaded sides.

Crozier suffered from haemophilia and was affected by ill health for most of his life. He died aged only 37 after a fall in his studio.