. James Dickson Innes was born on 27 February 1887 in
Llanelli, in south Wales. His father, John Innes, who had come from
Scotland, was an historian and had an interest in a local brass and copper works; his mother was of
Catalan descent. He had two brothers, Alfred and Jack. His parents sent him to be educated at
Christ College, Brecon. Afterwards he studied at the
Carmarthen School of Art (1904–05), from where he won a scholarship to the
Slade School of Art in London (1905–1908). His teachers at the Slade included
Henry Tonks and
P. Wilson Steer. From 1907 he exhibited with the
New English Art Club; and in 1911 he became a member of the
Camden Town Group. The Camden Town Group included
Walter Sickert who was an influence on Innes's art, and
Augustus John with whom Innes became friends. Innes also exhibited in the influential
Armory Show in New York City, Chicago and Boston. : He himself cut an arresting figure: a
Quaker hat, a coloured silk scarf, and a long black overcoat, set off features of a slightly cadaverous cast, with glittering black eyes, a wide sardonic mouth, a prominent nose and a large bony forehead, invaded by streaks of thin black hair. He carried an ebony cane with a gold top, and spoke with a heavy English accent, which had been imposed on an agreeable Welsh sub-stratum. Much of his work was done overseas, mainly in France (1908–1913), notably at
Collioure, but also in Spain (1913) and Morocco (1913) – foreign travel having been prescribed after he was diagnosed with
tuberculosis. On 22 August 1914, at the age of twenty-seven, he died of the disease at a nursing home in
Swanley, Kent. ==Legacy==