Old photograph of Portincaple on the shore of Loch Long, Scotland. For thirty years until his death in 1942, Portincaple was the home of Scottish artist James Kay. He was born on 22 October 1858 at Lamlash on the Isle of Arran, son of Thomas Kay, a chief petty officer in the British Royal Navy, and Violet McNeish. He trained at the Glasgow School of Art. Active from the late 1880s, Kay achieved regular recognition at exhibitions in Europe. He exhibited at the Salon in Paris in 1894, and at 1895's La Libre Esthétique in Brussels was awarded an honourable mention. In 1903 his painting Toil and Grime was awarded the silver medal at the Société des Amis des Arts in Rouen, while another work, River of the North, won the gold medal at the Paris Salon. In 1907 his painting Launch of the Lusitania was purchased by the Corporation of Glasgow for the city's art collection. In 1911, Kay met and married Ada Laval, who was from Mauritius. They had one child, Violet McNeish Kay, in 1914; she went on to become an artist, and died in 1971.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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