John Quinton Pringle (13 December 1864 – 25 April 1925) was a Scottish painter, influenced by

Jules Bastien-Lepage Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement. His most famous work is his lan ...

and 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 ...

Early life

Boy in a Blue Hat by John Quinton Pringle

Pringle was born the son of a railway employee in

Dennistoun Dennistoun is a mostly residential district in Glasgow, Scotland, located north of the River Clyde and in the city's east end, about east of the city centre. Since 2017 it has formed the core of a Dennistoun ward under Glasgow City Council, ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. Though the family moved for a short time (1869 to 1874) to

Langbank Langbank is a village on the south bank of the River Clyde in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It is 9.3 miles/15 km northwest from Paisley (Renfrewshire) and 3.4 miles/5.5 km east from Port Glasgow (Inverclyde) on the A8. History Langbank ev ...

in nearby

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Renfr ...

(where his father had been appointed stationmaster), John received his education in Glasgow and later lived for some time in Maukinfauld Road, Tollcross. He left school in 1876 and was apprenticed to an optical repairman. Twenty years later he set up in business on his own, offering optical and electrical repairs in his shop in No. 90 Saltmarket, near Glasgow Cross. It was a famously chaotically run shop, but Pringle kept it running as a business (albeit a sideline from his real love) for over 20 years. Meanwhile, he pursued a vocation in painting. Pringle attended evening and Saturday morning classes (at the same time as

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdo ...

) between 1883 and 1888. In 1901 he won a gold medal for life drawing at the South Kensington national competition.

Life as a painter

Pringle left about 100 works. Many are small scale oil on canvas, with subjects often including his family, friends, backcourts or local surroundings. He did not paint in oils between 1911 and 1921. Pringle visited

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

in 1910 and spent a couple of summers on the

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

island of Whalsay, (where he stayed with the local doctor, W.G. Wilson). In both cases he produced a range of sea or landscapes, often experimenting with painterly effects. Later he produced portraits (often miniatures) on commission, some of which are in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Pringle was influenced by the French painter

, whose paintings had been exhibited in Glasgow, along with those of other French painters, during the 1880s. He was most obviously influenced in technique, though the interest local subjects are another shared concern. In later works he used paint dissolved in turpentine and applied this in short strokes using a square brush. His palette in any one painting was limited but intense - his technique often giving a luminous or shimmering effect. He exhibited at the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Secessionist Exhibition of 1902 and in the

Whitechapel Art Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

, in 1914. A ''Centenary Exhibition'' was held by ''Kelvingrove Art Gallery'',

in 1964. Pringle died in

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

on 25 April 1925. He is buried in Sandymount,

Shettleston Shettleston ( sco, Shuttlestoun, gd, Baile Nighean Sheadna) is a district in the east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Toponymy The origin of the name 'Shettleston' is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multi ...

, in the east end of

Paintings

John Quinton Pringle - Still Life with the Head of Dante

* "''Greenock''", watercolour, (1886), sold by McTears 20.09.02 *"''Parkheid''", oil on canvas, (c. 1886), sold by Sotheby's March 2006 *"''Self Portrait''", oil on canvas, (c. 1886), Kelvingrove Art Gallery,

*"''Backcourt, Bartholomew Street''", oil on canvas, (1887),

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

*“''Tarbet Loch Fyne''", watercolour, (1888), Hunterian Art Gallery,

*“''Children at a burn''" (1889), oil on canvas, Tate Britain,

*"''Repairing the bicycle''" (the artist’ younger brother, ''Barclay Pringle''), oil on canvas, (c. 1889), Kelvingrove Art Gallery,

*"''Portrait of the artist’s elder brother, Christopher Nisbet Pringle''” (c. 1890), oil on canvas, Tate Britain,

*"''View from the artist’s window in Maukinfauld Road''", oil on canvas, (c. 1890), Kelvingrove Art Gallery,

*"''Muslin Street''", (1896), oil on canvas, City Art Centre

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

*"''Mrs Newberry and Daughter''", oil on canvas, (1902), Hunterian Art Gallery,

*"''Bosham''", Watercolour, (1903), Tate Britain

*"''Man with a tobacco pouch''" oil on canvas, (1903), sold by The

Leicester Galleries Leicester Galleries was an art gallery located in London from 1902 to 1977 that held exhibitions of modern British, French and international artists' works. Its name was acquired in 1984 by Peter Nahum, who operates "Peter Nahum at the Leiceste ...

2006 *"''Two figures on a fence''" oil on canvas (1904), Kelvingrove Art Gallery,

*"''Girls at play''", oil on canvas, (c. 1905), Hunterian Art Gallery,

*"''Poultry Yard, Gartcosh''", oil on canvas, (1906), National Galleries of Scotland,

*"''Tollcross, Glasgow''", oil on canvas, (1908), Hunterian Art Gallery,

*"''Portrait of a boy, bust length, wearing a grey suit and a pink cravat in a summer landscape.''", (1910), Allposter.com *"''Caudebec''" oil on canvas, (1910), Kelvingrove Art Galleries,

*"''Mrs Helen Meldrum''", black chalk drawing, (1923), Hunterian Art Gallery,

*"''Mrs Helen Meldrum''", oil on canvas, (1924), Hunterian Art Gallery,

*"''The Window''" (1924), oil on canvas, Tate Britain,

Bibliography

* ''Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford, (2004) * ''John Q Pringle 1864-1925-a centenary exhibition'' (the catalogue) by J Meldrum and A Auld, Glasgow Art Galleries and Museums (1964) * ''Scottish Arts Council Exhibition Catalogue'' (1981) by J Meldrum and D Brown

External links

*
images of ''Children at a burn, Portrait of the Artist’s elder brother, The Window''

Explorer
at aagm.co.uk (image of ''Curing Station, Whalsay'')

at en.easyart.com
''John Quinton Pringle Website''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, John Quinton 1864 births 1925 deaths 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 20th-century Scottish painters Glasgow School Artists from Glasgow 19th-century Scottish male artists 20th-century Scottish male artists