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Written to accompany the 2008 exhibition, Dawn of a Colony : Lyrical Light
(St Ives 1889-1914) at Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance, of which the
author was Curator, this significant, and extensively illustrated, book
discusses the major paintings by the most important artists working in the St
Ives art colony during its pre-War heyday, many of which won awards at
international exhibitions, particularly those in Paris and Pittsburgh.
This was a period when the St Ives colony won a world-wide reputation as a
centre for both the practice and teaching of landscape and marine painting, with
artists from many different countries coming to study and work en plein air
alongside British artists, who had secured considerable reputations in these
genre both nationally and internationally. Labelled by the author, 'St Ives
Tonalism', the prevalent style was based on a careful study of tones and values,
inspired initially by the Barbizon School, coupled with an emphasis on the
effect, rather than the topographical subject, and a desire to evoke a mood or
inspire poetical associations.
Previously unresearched, the author reveals a significant movement in British
landscape and marine painting, featuring the future Royal Academicians Adrian
Stokes, Arnesby Brown, Julius Olsson, Alfred East and Algernon Talmage. Other
important members of the landscape section included Arthur Meade, John Noble
Barlow, Fred Milner, Charles Eastlake, Greville Morris and Garstin Cox, whilst significant
marine painters included Moffat Lindner, Edmund Fuller, Louis Grier and the
watercolourists, John Bromley and Charles Mottram.
There were also a number of fine figure painters in the colony, such as William
Titcomb, William Fortescue, William Eadie and Thomas Millie Dow, whilst
important female artists included Marianne Stokes, Dorothy Webb Robinson, Mia
Brown and Jessie Titcomb. Often labelled 'Newlyners' by contemporary critics,
the author argues that the contribution of the St Ives artists to the reputation
of the 'Newlyn School' has been overlooked.
The book also highlights the influence of the colony upon the numerous foreign
artist visitors, and the way in which friendships forged led to St Ives artists
gaining unprecedented exposure internationally, particularly in America. Foreign
artists featured extensively include the Americans Sydney Laurence, Elmer
Schofield, Frederick Waugh, Paul Dougherty, Abbott Thayer, Gardner Symons and
William Wendt, the Canadians Mary Bell Eastlake, Emily Carr and Harry Britton,
the Australians Phillips Fox, David Davies, Hayley Lever, Arthur Burgess, Will
Ashton and Charles Bryant, the Kiwi, Herbert Babbage, and the Dutchman Bosch
Reitz.
This book, therefore, completely re-evaluates the significance of the St Ives
art colony not only in a Cornish context, but also on the national and
international stages. It will surely become the principal reference work on this
period.
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ISBN : 9780953836369
Paperback only 350 pages (320mm x 230mm)
340 illustrations (236 in colour)
Price £35-00
Postage : UK free, Europe £10, Worldwide £10 (surface), £20 (airmail)
Privately published, this book is best obtained direct from the author,
David Tovey, at 11-13 Mill Bank, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England GL20 5SD
E-mail :
dwt@stivesart.info Telephone : ++ 44 (0)1684 850898
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