The Fur Boa by William Kennedy (1859-1918).
This oil painting is one of the few portraits by Kennedy. A Japanese print can be seen in the background and is a tribute to the work of James McNeill Whistler, who Kennedy admired.
Kennedy was born in Hutchesontown but was brought up in Paisley by his older brother after being orphaned. He studied at Paisley School of Art (and perhaps Glasgow School of Art) and began to exhibit at the Paisley Art Institute in 1879. In 1880 he went to study in Paris, where he met fellow art students John Lavery, Alexander Roche and Thomas Millie Dow. These painters, along with Kennedy himself, were later to become part of the group of artists known as the Glasgow Boys.
Kennedy returned to Glasgow in 1885 but acquired a studio in Stirling shortly afterwards. He moved to Berkshire in the 1890s and then to Tangier, where he died in 1918.
Reference: 2446
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
artists, boas, fashions, furs, Glasgow Boys, Glasgow School of Art, Japanese prints, oil paintings, Paisley Art Institute, Paisley School of Art, portraits, women