John Quinton Pringle

LOT 20 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION JOHN QUINTON PRINGLE 1864 - 1925 MAN WITH TOBACCO POUCH 70,000—100,000 GBP measurements 54 by 43.5 cm.; 21¼ by 17 in. signed and dated l.l.: JOHN .Q. PRINGLE/ /03 oil on canvas PROVENANCE William Meldrum Esq.;Gifted to David A. L. Fleming Esq.;Christie's, Scotland, 22 November 1988, lot 642 CATALOGUE NOTE Pringle, like many contemporary fellow Scottish artists, wasstrongly influenced by the French realist painter JulesBastien-Lepage. He saw his work in exhibitions in Glasgow in the1880s, and Pringle adopted, in particular, elements ofBastien-Lepage's technique and Realist subject matter.However, Pringle clearly synthesised these influences in adistinctly personal way, adding his own intense range of colouring,and heightening the Post Impressionist tendency to squared,inter-woven brushstrokes. He almost exclusively painted Glasgow scenes, urban andsub-urban, and Glasgow characters, including friends andacquaintances, with an almost wilful parochialism. He was a semi-professional artist, who nevertheless exhibited inVienna, at the Secessionist exhibition in 1902, in London atthe Whitechapel Gallery in 1914, and frequently in Scotland. He wastrained as an optical repair man and ran a shop offering these, andother repair services, in Saltmarket in Glasgow for many years. Theshop doubled as his studio. He had previously trained as an artistin Glasgow between 1883-88, at one time alongside Charles RennieMackintosh, and there is undoubtedly a strong decorative strain inhis work, with his often limited range of colours neverthelesscreating great luminosity. Pringle stopped painting in oils in 1911, and did not resumeuntil towards the end of his life in the early 1920s. He is aneccentric but highly distinctive artist, much revered in Scotland,who deserves greater recognition. His work is rare, only some 100works survive, and many of these are in institutional collections,notably at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, and the Tate Galleryin London. This particular work, dating from 1903, depicts a Glasgowcharacter nicknamed Kruger, for his likeness to the contemporaryBoer leader. He features in three portraits of this period and wasa frequent visitor to Pringle's shop. There is a similar, althoughlater, work Man with a Drinking Mug, in the ScottishNational Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.

Oil on canvas, inscribed on the stretcher verso 'I believe this tobe a genuine painting by John Quinton Pringle possibly c.1908,James Meldrum' 26cm x 31cm (10.25in x 12.25in) Estimate £20,000-30,000 The present owner inherited the painting fromhis grandfather, who had a stained glass shop in the Saltmarket,Glasgow, near Pringle's own optician's shop. The painting was mostlikely a gift from the artist, who is known to have been veryinterested in stained glass.

Lot 100 JOHN QUINTON PRINGLE (SCOTTISH 1864-1925) FEEDING THE HENS, ARDESIER Pencil and watercolour 22cm x 28cm (8.5in x 11in) Estimate £3,000-5,000 Provenance: A gift from Eva, James Meldrum's second wife and thence by descent

Lot 101 JOHN QUINTON PRINGLE (SCOTTISH 1864-1925) IN THE GARDEN, GARTCOSH, Pencil and watercolour 16cm x 18.5cm (6.25in x 7.25in) Estimate £1,500-2,000 Provenance: A gift from Eva, James Meldrum's second wife and thence by descent

John Quinton Pringle (British, 1864-1925) Landscape with Figure watercolour 18.5 x 29.5 cm. (7 5/16 x 11 5/8 in.) PROVENANCE: James Meldrum With Ewan Mundy Fine Art, Glasgow, where purchased by the present owner EXHIBITED: Glasgow School of Art, 1922