Herbert Pullinger was born on August 5, 1878 and raised in Philadelphia where he would spend his entire life.  He first studied at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art, followed by the Drexel Institute, and finally enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for studies with Henry McCarter and Thomas Anshutz.

Although Pullinger is best known for his fine etchings and engravings depicting views of Philadelphia, he was an immensely talented painter.  Evidence shows that Pullinger spent time painting in and around New Hope in the teens and 1920's.  His oil paintings are rarely found as his body of work in oil is small.  Garnering much acclaim for these works, it is puzzling why Pullinger chose to paint so few.  He was prolific in his career as an etcher and engraver and held a position as an instructor in watercolor painting and etching at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art.

Pullinger exhibited frequently at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and was awarded a Gold Medal in 1925.  He was also awarded a Silver Medal at the Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1926.

Pullinger participated in exhibitions at the Woodmere Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago.  His work is in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, the Woodmere Art Museum and the Newark Museum, among others.

Herbert Pullinger died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 12, 1960.

Biography in part from Jim's Of Lambertville