(1866 - 1941)
Born in Edinburgh, James Pryde spent most of his life in London. He attended Edinburgh’s School of Art from 1880 and later took life classes at the Royal Scottish Academy. He studied briefly at the Académie Julian, Paris. In 1890, he lived with his sister, Mabel, who was married to art student, William Nicholson. For a decade, Pryde and Nicolson, working as ‘The Beggarstaff Brothers’, produced innovative poster designs. From 1900, Pryde returned to painting, with solo exhibitions in London in 1911 and 1933. Despite exhibiting in group shows, by the end of his life Pryde’s reputation had declined. Suffering ill health and despair over the early death of his daughter, he spent the last years of his life in hospital, dying in 1941.
