Modern Art in St Ives – Part 1
Image: Barbara Hepwroth Sculpture, Epidauros II (1961) in St Ives, looking over towards Hayle. taken by Rose Hosken
The world of art is very interesting, rich and inspiring. But it can also be confusing and complicated with all the difference styles, groups and interconnections.
When I started my job, we were shown round the exhibition by the curator, she started to tell us the connections between the artists and their styles, she summed it up by calling it a “spiders web with infinite connections” with that in mind I can only touch upon some of the stories and artists that go into this vast and rich culture.
As I'm located in the beautiful landscape of Cornwall it’s only natural that I talk about artist that, like myself and so many others, have found inspiration in both the landscape and the people.
Artists have been visiting West Cornwall for many years. One of the big names, William Turner, came to Cornwall in the 1800’s and returned to London with sketches and tales of the area. We’ll never know what he said exactly, but what we do see is shortly after his visit other artists started to visit areas to the far south west of Cornwall such as St Ives and Newlyn.
Over time artistic groups start to grow, as the economy changes art studios appear and by the time of the First World War in 1914, a varied artistic community had developed. London was, and still is, one the hot spots of the art world. If an artist can make it there, they have made it onto the world stage. By this time Cornwall was one of the areas in the UK that had started to grow in popularity.
Over the next 10 years London saw new styles of art appearing, inspired by movements in Europe. Surrealism was a large movement that been popular in England since late Victorian times and had a strong focus on the human form, drawing on the physical and spiritual aspects. The trends in Europe, however, were more abstract and leaned away from the figurative form, looking for a pure artform that also used contemporary ideas, materials and thus made art accessible to all.
Many young artists were drawn to these ideas as they wanted to push the boundaries of the Arts. Just as the day-to-day world was propelled forwards with the modernisation of the industrial revolution.
As the 1930’s rolled on it was becoming clear that a looming war with Germany was growing more real day by day. Artists from Europe moved to London where it was safer and they could continue their studies and exploration of their Art, whilst still being able to exhibit and share with like-minded people.
Which is also why we see such artists such as Piet Mondrian, living and working in London. Hampstead became the new social ‘It’ place to be for creative and intellectual communities had a rich source of inspiration. Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore were some of the people that lived in the area and attracted attention.
In 1938 Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicolson made the bold decision, in light of the news that Germany and Britain were going to war, that moving out of the city of London to the area of St Ives was the safest thing they could do as they had 3 children, triplets 2 girls and a boy, that were still very young. They encouraged other artists to join them, which is one of the reasons why Cornwall sees a growth and change in the local art communities.
Part 2 - Artists who moved to St Ives and the styles they developed.