Robert Burns

Robert Burns, HRSA, RSW (1869–1941) was a Scottish painter, limner and designer. He was an early exponent of the Art Nouveau style in Scotland and an outstanding decorative artist. Life Burns was born in Edinburgh in 1869. His father was Archibald Burns, a pioneer of photography originally from Hamilton. The family lived for a time at Rock House on the Calton Hill, in what had been the studio of David Octavius Hill. Robert was educated at the Royal High School and Dollar Academy. He moved to Glasgow as a young man and attended evening classes at Glasgow School of Art.<ref>Martin Andrew Forrest (1982), Robert Burns (1869 - 1941), in Michael Cuthbert (Ed.) (1982), On the Side of Life: Patrick Geddes 1854 - 1932), Edinburgh College of Art, p. 10</ref> On being advised by Edward Arthur Walton to pursue a career in art, he left Scotland for London where he enrolled as a student at Professor Fred Brown's school at Westminster. In 1889 he moved to Paris and for the next two years he studied at the Académie Delécluse under Auguste Joseph Delécluse, Paul-Louis Delance and Edward Frederick Ertz. He was elected President of the Society of Scottish Artists in 1901. After a trip to Morocco in 1920, he returned to Edinburgh. In 1924 he was again elected president of the Society of Scottish Artists, serving in this role until 1927 He followed the example of the Arts and Crafts movement artists, employing a variety of materials in handicraft works with a view to furthering the relationship between arts, commerce, and industry.