Sir George Pirie PRSA (5 December 1863 – 17 February 1946) was a Scottish artist who was associated with the

Glasgow Boys The Glasgow School was a circle of influential artists and designers that began to coalesce in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1870s, and flourished from the 1890s to around 1910. Representative groups included The Four (also known as the Spook School ...

in the 1880s, though he was not in much sympathy with the theories of these artists. He was born in

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

Argyllshire Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

, on 5 December 1863. His father was John Pirie, a physician and surgeon, and his mother was Jane Harvey. As a child the family moved to Glasgow, where his father was a popular and well-known physician. He educated at

Glasgow Academy The Glasgow Academy is a coeducational independent day school for pupils aged 3–18 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2016, it had the third-best Higher level exam results in Scotland. Founded in 1845, it is the oldest continuously fully independent ...

and graduated M.A. at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1882. He studied at

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

, the

Slade School The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

, and the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

in Paris under

Gustave Boulanger Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger (25 April 1824 – 22 September 1888) was a French figurative painter and academic artist and teacher known for his Classical and Orientalist subjects. Education and career The Néo-Grecs and the Prix de Rom ...

Jules Lefebvre Jules Joseph Lefebvre (; 14 March 183624 February 1911) was a French figure painter, educator and theorist. Early life Lefebvre was born in Tournan-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, on 14 March 1836. He entered the École nationale supérieure des Be ...

, and

Emmanuel Frémiet Emmanuel Frémiet (6 December 182410 September 1910) was a French sculptor. He is famous for his 1874 sculpture of Joan of Arc in Paris (and its "sister" statues in Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon) and the monument to Ferdinand de Lesseps in S ...

the sculptor. He painted animals and birds, as well as some landscapes. In the early 1890s he was in Texas for a period, drawing horses and ranching scenes. He exhibited widely, including at the Royal Academy as well as in Scotland and the provinces. He served as President of the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

from 1933 to 1944 and was knighted in 1937. In 1901 he had married Jean Wingate in Glasgow with whom he had two sons and a daughter. The family lived in a large isolated house in Torrance with enough space for all of them to pursue their own interests. The younger son was the biochemist Norman Wingate Pirie. He was knighted in 1937, and died in Torrance on 17 February 1946, aged 82.

Sources

* Births, marriages and deaths information available at the General Register Office for Scotland, Scotlands People Centre in Edinburgh, and also at http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk * Biography in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/40594?docPos=2 * Who's Who in Glasgow in 1909: http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/eyrwho/eyrwho1414.htm * http://www.fineartsurrey.com/art/artist_display.php?aid=63

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinnington, Edward 1863 births 1946 deaths People from Campbeltown Animal artists People from Torrance, East Dunbartonshire 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 20th-century Scottish painters 19th-century Scottish male artists 20th-century Scottish male artists