Featured Artist
John Ballingall

John Ballingall 1859 – 1919

 

John Ballingall born in Lower Largo in 1859 was an accomplished painter, although art was not his main occupation, he worked in Largo as a cork cutter. John was the ninth of the ten children of weaver William Ballingall senior and his wife Jane (Jean) Wilson. While the majority of his siblings moved away to Edinburgh for work, John remained in Lower Largo.

​

In the 1891 census it mentions John having four children and the family were living in part of Goodsir House, looking down the Orry to the sea, although by 1897 he was becoming a more successful artist as the family moved to, according to the Leven Advertiser, "new and commodious premises opposite the U.P. Church" where there was a large exhibition room for his oil and water-colour paintings. This is now number 53 Main Street, Lower Largo.

​

During the 1890s when John's artwork was receiving more attention, he had a seascape displayed at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, Several of his known paintings date from this decade.  He was known for marine and fishing scenes as well as village views of Largo in oil and water colour. As you will see at the venue.

​

John died in Springfield at the Fife and Kinross District asylum in 1919 where he had been since 1899 suffering from melancholia.

​

A selection of John's work is on display at Venue 20