James Pryde (1866 – 1941) was a Scottish artist who worked mainly in graphics. He was a painter of architectural fantasies and interiors, a lithographer and designer of posters.
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James Ferrier Pryde was born in Edinburgh on the 30 January 1866. He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy 1886–7.[1] His early works (1886–90) included portraits in oil and charcoal, watercolours and pastels. He then studied for three months under William-Adolphe Bouguereau at the Académie Julian, Paris, and soon after his return to Britain settled in London around 1890.
In 1893 his sister Mabel married William Nicholson, after the two had met while studying at the Bushey School of Art. Pryde and Nicholson formed the Beggarstaff Brothers partnership,[2] which lasted only until about 1900, exploiting woodcuts in particular in innovative poster design.[3] The posters they designed attracted public attention and influenced the art of poster design.
Between 1894 and 1899 Pryde tried his hand as an actor, playing small parts in several plays. Ellen Terry's son Edward Gordon Craig, with whom Pryde toured Scotland in 1895, described 'Jimmy' as 'one of the best painters who ever lived' and 'one of the biggest hearts on earth'. But Craig had no illusions about Pryde's dramatic ability:
as an actor he never really existed: but the idea of acting, the idea of the theatre – or rather the smell of the place, meant a lot to him. Yes, I think he got much 'inspiration' from the boards – and the thought and feel of it all, as of a magical place ...[4]
He was an associate of the International Society from 1901 and Vice-President in 1921. His first one-man exhibition was held at the Baillie Gallery in 1911. He also exhibited at the Goupil Gallery, the Leicester Galleries, the Grosvenor Gallery, London Salon, New English Art Club, Royal Hibernian Academy, Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and Royal Scottish Academy.[5] In 1934 he was elected an honorary member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.
He produced little new work after 1925, though he designed the sets for Paul Robeson's Othello at the Savoy Theatre in 1930.
Pryde died on 24 February 1941 in Kensington, London.
In 1949 an Arts Council Memorial Exhibition toured Edinburgh, Brighton and London (Tate Gallery).