Louise Ellen Perman

1854 - 1921

Louise Perman studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1884 until 1890. She was a noted painter of flowers, often exhibiting with artists such as Jessie Algie, Jessie M. King and Margaret Muir. Perman has been compared favourably to Stuart Park, a flower painter associated with the Glasgow boys. Art historian James L. Caw asserts that 'her pictures evoke much of the feeling which has been indicated as wanting in his.' She was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Scottish Academy between 1885 and 1920. In 1908, her painting White Roses was bought by the Luxembourg in Paris. She was a member of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Lady Artists' Club and was serving as Vice-President of the Club at the time of her death in 1921. The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture describes Louise Perman as 'an underestimated painter whose true qualities are only now beginning to be recognised.' Although she may have been underestimated in Scotland, her work was widely shown in Europe: Munich, Berlin, Dresden and Prague, to name but a few. Perman's husband was James Torrance, who was born in Glasgow in 1859 and was an illustrator and artist.