St Ives School - who says artists must suffer for their art?

St Ives was always a pretty fishing area of Britain, and the Porthmeor studios were opened for business as early as 1815 (probably originally built for something fish-related). This suggests that by the later C19th, keen artists were building their studios on top of the fishermen's cellars. Nonetheless the town wasn’t a realistic destination for most travellers until the extension of the Great Western Railway in 1877.

St Ives and its beach

As a result, much of the town was built during the later C19th when the permanent population increased marginally and the number of visitors increased substantially. Note the British-American artist James Whistler and his pupil, English impressionist painter Walter Sickert. Note also Australian ex-pat artist Emanuel Phillips Fox who settled at St Ives in 1890 and met the artist Ethel Carrick there in 1901. They soon married each other.

Map of  St Ives, far SW tip of England

Railway poster, advertising Cornwall (what date?)

Even then, it took some time before art critics recognised the area as a centre for creativity. The first event that established the town on the national scene was when an art pottery studio was established in St Ives in 1920 by Bernard Leach. Then in 1928, painters Ben Nicholson (1894–1982) and Christopher Wood (1901–30) visited St Ives and loved what they saw. So I am suggesting that the 1920s was the first important decade in the development of the Cornish fishing port as an artists' colony.

Christopher Wood met and became quite close to Ben Nicholson in 1926 and soon moved to Cornwall to paint and to exhibit together. Wood said he painted coastal scenes because he loved the sea, he loved primitive landscapes and because his family had always messed around in boats. What a tragedy that he died, at his own hand, aged 29.

Formed in 1927, St Ives Society of Artists flourished in the 1930s and 1940s, attracting artists who'd painted in Cornwall either permanently or as a visitor. Members included some of my favourite C20th artists: Stanhope Forbes, Frank Brangwyn, Laura Knight, Sir Alfred Munnings and Stanley Spencer. Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham moved to St Ives in 1940, aged 28, and "went native".

Porthmeor Studios, overlooking St Ives' beach

 
Ben Nicholson married the sculptress Barbara Hepworth (1903–75) in 1938 and with the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939, they decided to settle in St Ives for the long term. They were soon joined by the Russian sculptor Naum Gabo (1890–1977). Gabo had moved from Russia to Munich and Paris (amongst other cities) for many years and didn’t settle in Britain until 1936. Locals looked on in amazement as the artists made sleepy old West Cornwall trendy.

Trewyn Studio, purchased by Nicholson and Hepworth in 1949, was no bigger than many other stone-built houses in the town. The war had ended and a new, younger generation of artists emerged, led by the star couple. This second generation of artists also made the Cornish coast their home and continued using the term The St Ives School. The 1950s were tough years for most Brits but St Ives’ modern artists were doing well.

Hepworth Museum, interior space

After their divorce, Barbara Hepworth continued to live in the St Ives house and died there in 1975, aged 72. Trewyn Studio, now The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, was opened the very next year (1976) by her family, following the plan she outlined in her will. The Museum has been run by the Tate, almost since it opened to the public. It displays a representative group of her sculptures, permanently available to the public, both inside the house and outside in the garden she loved.

So St Ives is a stunning beautiful place for an art museum; plus it is totally appropriate for a Hepworth museum ...since she lived and worked in the town.

Hepworth Museum, garden sculptures

The Tate St Ives is a totally separate art gallery and is worth a visit for its architecture and spectacular location on Porthmeor Beach alone. Exhibitions vary throughout the year and may be accompanied by lecture series. The population of St Ives is probably under 12,000 people, so I am assuming that the lectures and exhibitions are held partially to attract outsiders.

The Tate St Ives, facing the beach

Bernard Leach continued potting in St Ives until 1972 with his students and apprentices, and died in 1979. The pottery remained open under the direction of Bernard's wife and then after her death in 1999, it was bought by a local businessman. The Pottery Cottage, next to the Leach pottery, is now open as a museum, focusing on the output of talented potters throughout the 1920-2000 era.

Studio pottery from Bernard Leach, Pottery Cottage St Ives

Christopher Wood, St Ives Cornwall, 1928. 

British Art Fair