Identity:

John Finnie was a painter and printmaker.

Life:

Finnie specialised in landscape painting, as well as in etching and engraving. He was headmaster of the Mechanics Institute and School of Art in Liverpool until 1896. He exhibited in London at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, Society of British Artists, Dudley Gallery, New Gallery, Royal Institute of Oil Painters and Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, as well as at the Royal Cambrian Academy, Royal Society of Artists in Birmingham, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Royal Scottish Academy, Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and Manchester City Art Gallery.

In 1884 he was elected a member of the Society of British Artists, a society which two years later was to name JW its President. He became a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1895.

Bibliography:

Bénézit, E., Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, 8 vols, Paris, 1956-61; Johnson, J., and Anna Greutzner, Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, Woodbridge, 1980; Bennett, Mary, Merseyside, painters, people & places: catalogue of oil paintings, Merseyside, 1978.