Cornwall Calling: The Artists of Newlyn, Lamorna & St Ives

The beauty of the countryside, the drama of the sea and the clarity of the light attracted a succession of artists to the Cornish fishing towns of Newlyn, Lamorna and St Ives in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The painters of the Newlyn School were led by Stanhope Forbes; they adhered to the principle of painting en plein air and found subject matter amongst the local fishermen and their families. In the 20th century, St Ives became a focus for leading avant-garde artists such as Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo and Barbara Hepworth, as well as Patrick Heron, Roger Hilton and Peter Lanyon. Our tour will follow in the footsteps of the artists inspired by the Cornish land and seascapes from the 1800s to the present day.

The tour will be based in Truro, a predominantly Georgian town, where we will visit John Loughborough Pearson’s neo-Gothic cathedral and the Royal Cornwall Museum, home to a collection of Cornish paintings by artists from both the Newlyn School and the Lamorna Group.

Perched above the River Fal, leading to the sea, the neoclassical columned house at Trelissick offers unparalleled, spectacular maritime views amidst beautifully landscaped gardens and woodland. We will continue to Falmouth Art Gallery, described as having “one of the leading art collections of Cornwall and the South West”, including works by Henry Scott Tuke.

Reopened in 2017 after a £20 million transformation by Jamie Fobert Architects, Tate St Ives was the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year in 2018. The gallery hosts a rich collection of modern art in a dramatic seafront setting, including pottery and stoneware by Bernard Leach and marine paintings by local artist Alfred Wallis. A short walk away is Trewyn Studio, Barbara Hepworth’s home and studio from 1949 to 1975. The rooms feel as though she has only just left them and the small, tranquil garden provides the perfect setting for her sculptures.

Key works by Newlyn School artists reside at Penlee House Gallery and Museum in Penzance. Artists such as Dod and Ernest Procter and Roger Fry created a series of unique paintings for the church at St Hilary. Our tour also includes an afternoon at the romantically named and justly famous Lost Gardens of Heligan.

We will stay throughout at the four-star Alverton Hotel in Truro, with elegant and comfortable rooms housed in a Grade II-listed building.

This tour will be led by Sarah Burles, MA, who studied History of Art at Cambridge University before going on to a career in museum and gallery education. This included 12 years at the Fitzwilliam Museum as well as work in other Cambridge museums. Sarah has worked on the St Ives artists and their links to Kettle’s Yard, and has taught a short course on ‘The Art of Cornwall’. She is looking forward to leading this ACE tour in 2021.