Skip to content

Tunny, James Good

Tunny, James Good
Tunny, James Good
Tunny, James Good
About the artist
Name
Tunny, James Good
Biography
James Good Tunny was born in Edinburgh on 8 April 1820. His parents were Neil Tunny an Irish immigrant and Catherine Tunny (nee Good).

His father was a shoemaker and Tunny followed him in this career until around 1852 when he opened his first photography studio at 78 South Clerk Street. Tunny’s work began to appear in exhibitions soon after his first studio opened, including the Photographic Society, London in 1874 and 1875, and the Photographic Society of Scotland from 1856-1864.

He continued successfully in the Southside of Edinburgh, but with photography becoming more popular and competition increasing he decided to relocate to the centre of the city and opened a studio at 93 Princes Street where the business enjoyed further success. He later returned to the Southside where he set up studios over the years at 6 West Newington Place, and 102 South Bridge. He still had the studio in Princes Street, but when it was acquired by an insurance office, he sought to look for new premises. Shortly after returning from a six month photographic tour of the U.S.A. in 1882, Tunny purchased a large house in Shandwick Place, demolished it and built a large four story building which housed an exhibition room, a studio, a gallery and a dark room.

Tunny was a member of the Edinburgh Photographic Society, and he gave many lectures over a period of almost twenty years.

Photographs by Tunny can be found in several collections. The National Galleries of Scotland have over thirty photographs by Tunny in their collection at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery mainly featuring portraits, and The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, has an album of photographs by Tunny including many portraits of artists.

Tunny died on 24 September 1887 at his home at 11 Salisbury Place aged 67 years.
Creator of