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David Pottinger

Jamaican artist (1911-2004)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ5238671
Source-derived summary

David "Jack" Pottinger (1911–2004) was a Jamaican painter.

Self-taught as an artist, he began his career in the 1940s after participating in Edna Manley's classes at the Junior Centre in Kingston, Jamaica. Kingston was the primary subject of much of his work; he also painted Jamaican traditions and popular scenes. His style has been described as reminiscent of the early paintings of Petion Savain.

Pottinger was awarded a Gold Musgrave Medal in 2002 by the Institute of Jamaica.

References

Biography

Veerle Poupeye. Caribbean Art. London; Thames and Hudson; 1998.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “David Pottinger” is jamaican artist (1911-2004). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through David, Pottinger and Jamaican, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1911, 2004, 2002, 1998—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1911-01-01. For this dossier, David, Pottinger and Jamaican is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “jamaican artist (1911-2004)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5238671. VIAF identifies the subject as 96596375. The Library of Congress control number is no2006056689. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1911, 2004, 2002 and 1998.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “David Pottinger”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow David Pottinger primary sources, David Pottinger archive and David research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “David Pottinger”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from David Pottinger” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.