John Rankine Barclay

John Rankine Barclay (9 April 1884 – on or after 22 October 1964) was a Scottish painter, born in Edinburgh. He won the third annual Guthrie Award in 1922 with his work, the oil painting The Artist's Wife.

Life

John Rankine Barclay was born in Edinburgh. His parents were James Weston Barclay (19 July 1859 - 20 March 1935) and Mary Rankine (c. 1860 - 24 February 1936). They had married in Kirkcaldy in 1881. John was one of their 4 sons.

At 16, Barclay was recorded on the 1901 census as an engraver's apprentice.

He moved to Cornwall in 1935, staying at Zennor.

It is noted that towards the end of his life he was suffering mental illness.

Art

Barclay trained at the Edinburgh College of Art from 1908. He was awarded a travelling bursary at the college and went to France and Spain.

Barclay exhibited with the Royal Scottish Academy from 1910 with his first exhibit A Wood In Winter. In 1911 his two works The Laundress and The Dockyard at Dusk; 1912 Jardin Du Luxembourg and The Church Tower, Dordrecht; 1913 Miss Jeanie Gardner Sinclair and Monty and March.

He met Alick Riddell Sturrock; and he and Sturrock then joined the 'Edinburgh Group' that included David Macbeth Sutherland, William Oliphant Hutchison, William Mervyn Glass, John Guthrie Spence Smith and Dorothy Johnstone; as a group of progressive painters. The Edinburgh Group exhibited at their Edinburgh Exhibition of 1919, with Barclay's work drawing plaudits from E. A. Taylor.

After he won the Guthrie Award in 1922 he exhibited at the RSA in 1923 with A Dance Hall and Betty; in 1924 with Green And Black; in 1925 The Riverside and A Breton Landscape; and in 1926 The Minister Of Currie; and in 1927 Arpeggios, and 1928 Dorothy MacDonald.

Works

His works include Kirkcudbright and Zennor Village; Cornish Scoutmaster.

Stoke-on-Trent Museum and Art Gallery have his work The Pont Neuf.