Watercolours, 10½"x13", signed. This is another sensitively painted example, the paint seeming to skim the surface of the paper, tones increasing in depth with successive layers, replicating the atmosphere of the wood.
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JOHN SPENCE INGALL 1850 – 1936

Spence Ingall was born in Barnsley and became a fabric designer after studying at Barnsley School of Art. Following the path of so many of his Staithes Group
colleagues, he abandoned this career to study at the Acade´mie Julian. On his return to England he continued in the same direction, renting a place to live in
Hinderwell. He eventually bought a small house in Runswick and is buried in
Hinderwell churchyard..

As well as painting on the North East coast, Ingall made regular trips to the
Continent and North Africa. Following an illness he bought a house in Tangiers to use in the winter, continuing to spend his summers in Runswick. Henry Hopwood, Fred Jackson and Fred Mayor often went to stay there with him.

Ingall painted primarily in watercolours with which he achieved a wonderful
melting effect using wet paper which gives great subtlety to his work. The tonal quality of his watercolours is outstanding. He was able to make light pervasive, whether it was the harsh sunlight and shadow of Morocco or the gentler
illumination of the Yorkshire coast.

He was elected a member of the Staithes Art Club in 1902. He exhibited at the Walker Gallery Liverpool, Manchester City Art Gallery, the Royal Academy and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours.

He has work in the collection of the Pannett Art Gallery, Whitby.


Bibliography:
Staithes Group Centenary Exhibition, Rosamund Jordan 2003
The Staithes Group, Peter Phillips, Phillips and Sons, Marlow1993
The Yorkshire Union of Artists 1888 – 1922, Dennis Child, Leeds Philosophical and
Literary Society Ltd, Leeds 2001
The Dictionary of British Artists 1880 – 1940, J. Johnson & A. Greutzner, Antique
Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge 1976

© Rosamund Jordan 2005