Born in Dunfermline, James Cumming was a Scottish artist, and influential lecturer known for his highly intellectual and expressive paintings. At school Cumming was taught by George Watson where he showed an early promise in art. Determined to become a painter Cumming won the Andrew Grant Scholarship to attend the Edinburgh College of Art between 1939-1947. His studies were interrupted by the Second World War and in 1941 he joined the RAF, serving in India and Burma.

Following the war Cumming returned to the ECA, completing his Diploma and then postgraduate degree in 1949. He was awarded a traveling Scholarship to Callanish on the Isle of Lewis, during which he was inspired to paint his ...