The Hepworth Room, Jeffrey Harris and Friends

Running concurrently with our exhibitions of Harris’s work, firstly at The Crypt, and now at our Studio in Towednack, the Penwith Gallery is showing an exhibition of work by Jeffrey Harris and Friends.

The show includes a stunning pair of works by Harris and his wife, the Tasmanian artist Gwen Leitch from 1960 and 1958 respectively (illustrated below). The paintings were made in their shared No. 7 Porthmeor Studio.

The Hepworth Room, left to right: Jeff Harris Black, White & Ochre (Private collection) Gwen Leitch Black Soil (Penwith Archive) Paul Mount The Nest (Penwith Archive) and Wilhelmina Barns Graham St Ives from Island (Belgrave St Ives)

Gwen Leitch Black Soil 1958 (Penwith Archive)

Gwen Leitch was born in Tasmania. Due to a scholarship she attended the Central School of Arts and Craft in London from 1954 to 1956. She was taught by Patrick Heron and Roger Hilton and was encouraged by Heron to move to St Ives. In 1956 she lived with Delia and Patrick Heron at ‘Eagles Nest’, where she had a small studio space. In 1957 she was the second woman to be awarded a Porthmeor Beach Studio, which she retained until leaving the UK in 1970. In 1959 Jeffrey Harris and her married and shared the studio.

Photographs of No. 7 Porthmeor Studio exhibited at the Hepworth Room courtesy of the Penwith Archive. Gwen Leitch talking with artist Tony O’Malley who was a great family friend. / Jeffrey Harris painting in the studio. / Gwen taking a break in the studio. / Gwen in discussion with Ann Cummings.

Alongside photographs, letters and an exhibition catalogue held by the Penwith Gallery Archive, are works on loan from the gallery and works from the Penwith Archive’s collection. The images below capture highlights.

Photographs of the Hepworth Room: Terry Frost A Book of Ideas – Page 77 1976, Jeffrey Harris Red Squares 1969. / Barbara Hepworth’s Magic Stone with Patrick Heron’s Six in Vermillion with Violet in Red : April 1970 in the background. / Jason Lilley, Claire Harris (Jeffrey’s daughter) and guest reviewing the archive material. Artworks showing, from left to right, Jeffrey Harris Blue Still Life 1974 and Red Still Life with a Circle 1973 and on the back wall, Gwyther Irwin’s Hundred Series No.34 1971. / Flowers in the foreground, highlight a Hepworth sculpture and behind it hangs the Patrick Heron’s Six in Vermillion with Violet in Red : April 1970 and Breon O’Casey’s Blue Squares 2001.

Patrick Heron was a great supporter of Jeffrey and Gwen. He was very generous to both of them when they were establishing themselves as young artists in St Ives. Jeffrey says the following:

“Gwen was Nanny to their children at Eagles Nest (his wife Delia was lovely) – Patrick had taught Gwen at Central School and from there offered her work and somewhere to paint at Eagles Nest. It was through Patrick’s support that Gwen was awarded Porthmeor studio. She and me later shared the studio. After Gwen and I were married/living together we continued to visit Eagles Nest and Patrick would share time and knowledge of painting particularly use of colour with us both. Patrick helped me get the job at Falmouth Art School were I worked 3 days a week for 3 years from the mid 60’s. Michael Finn was head of the school and also very generous to us.” July 2022, recorded by Jeffrey Harris’ son, Chris.

Patrick Heron’s Six in Vermillion with Violet in Red : April 1970 (on loan from the gallery and for sale)

Above is Penwith Gallery committee’s letter to the members in November 1965 with reference to Jeffrey becoming a full member again and the rule changed to make it happen, and Jeffrey earning the hanging committee job straight away. This in itself is a wonderful piece of history. We can see artists like Breon O’Casey on the hanging committee. Breon had a jewellery studio near the Penwith at one point and Jeffrey and Gwen visited him and is wife Doreen at Paul on one of their visits from Australia (after they had emigrated).

The Hepworth Room is a space to display the historical material of the Penwith Gallery Archive. The archive is currently being catalogued by artist Jason Lilley and his wife Julia. The Jeffrey Harris and Friends exhibition, due to its popularity has been extended to the end of July. A catalogue essay accompanying the exhibition at Belgrave St Ives called JEFFREY HARRIS – Paintings and Prints from Cornwall and Australia, 1968 – 2022 has been written by Tony Magnusson – Peter Davies has also written for the catalogue.

HISTORICAL SELLING EXHIBITION – ST IVES MODERNISM

PRESS RELEASE
ST IVES EXHIBITION 2020
30 Mar – 20 Apr 2020, Belgrave St Ives

The largest exhibition to date by the gallery sees over 100 works by 50 artists associated with St Ives Modernism. It brings together key figures like W Barns-Graham, Terry Frost, Roger Hilton, Peter Lanyon, Ben Nicholson with lesser known names such as John Barnicoat, Bob Bourne, Jeffrey Harris and Inez Hoyton.

Roger Hilton Untitled (Chickens) Gouache and charcoal; 38.5 x 56 cms

It is 22 years since the Belgrave Gallery (established London 1974) opened a second gallery in St Ives to specialize in showing the work of artists associated with Cornwall from 1930s to the present day. Following the inaugural exhibition in 1999 ‘St Ives – The Modern Movement’ the gallery has presented an annual exhibition of accessible paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture by the leading artists of this period shown alongside less well known but interesting artists working at the same time.

This annual exhibition, usually held in the Spring, has gained something of a reputation among art collectors interested in St Ives Modernist Art, making it an important port of call whether visiting Cornwall or through the comprehensive printed exhibition catalogue and gallery website.

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Underwater Movement Pen, ink and wash; 19.5 x 26.5 cms

Artists included: John Barnicoat, W. Barns-Graham, Max Barrett, Trevor Bell, Anthony Benjamin, Sandra Blow, Bob Bourne Charles Breaker, Max Chapman, Tom Cross, Bob Crossley, Alan Davie, Michael Finn, Clifford Fishwick, Terry Frost, Jeffrey Harris, Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron, Roger Hilton, Inez Hoyton, Bryan Ingham, Peter Lanyon, Jeremy Le Grice, Bernard Leach, Janet Leach, Padraig Mac Miadhachain, Margo Maeckelberghe, Margaret Mellis, John Milne, Denis Mitchell, Ben Nicholson, Kate Nicholson, Simon Nicholson, Harry Ousey, John Anthony Park, Victor Pasmore, Bryan Pearce, Douglas Portway, William Scott, Michael Snow, Troika Pottery, Doris Vaughan, John Wells, Karl Weschke and Guy Worsdell

The show will be held in all gallery exhibition spaces. A fully illustrated colour catalogue is available. Higher resolution images are available for print.

#StivesModernism @belgravestives

Jeffrey Harris Dalesman Oil and pencil on Masonite; 29 x 32 cms

NOTES TO EDITORS

For further information and images, please contact Richard Blackborow:

Belgrave St Ives, 22 Fore Street, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 1HE

richard@belgravestives.co.uk    tel. 01736 794888

Inez Hoyton Surf on a Cornish Beach Oil on board; 41 x 51 cms

ENDS

 

Installation: Sven Berlin – Drawings from The Dark Monarch

Please enjoy these informal installation shots of our exhibition of 27 of the 32 drawings made for The Dark Monarch by Sven Berlin. Executed c.1955, these drawings were used as illustrations for his notorious roman-à-clef The Dark Monarch in 1962. The work was a thinly-disguised and irreverent portrait of St Ives, its artists, and others who lived and worked in the town. Among the loosely disguised cast of artistic characters were W. Barns-Graham, Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Bernard Leach, Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Bryan Wynter and many others. The novel was withdrawn soon after publication, when legal action was taken by four of the local ‘characters’ in the book. This is the first time that the original drawings made for the novel have been exhibited.

You can view the individual works in the exhibition by following this link to the gallery website.

St Ives Exhibition 2019

Our flagship exhibition of works by artists associated with St Ives Modernism opens on 6th April. This annual exhibition offers collectors the chance to buy over 100 accessibly-priced works by most of the key names in post-War St Ives art, as well as presenting quality works by some less well known artists working in St Ives during the period.

Above: Dennis Mitchell Breage 1969 Bronze

Over 50 artists associated with the St Ives School are included, such as: Robert Adams, John Barnicoat, W. Barns-Graham, Romi Behrens, Sven Berlin, Sandra Blow, Bob Bourne, Henry Cliffe, Roy Conn, Tom Cross, Bob Crossley, John Emanuel, Michael Finn, Clifford Fishwick, Terry Frost, Jeff Harris, Patrick Hayman, Isobel Heath, Adrian Heath, Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron, Rose Hilton, Roger Hilton, Inez Hoyton, Bryan Ingham, Peter Lanyon, Jeremy Le Grice, Margo Maeckelberghe, William Marshall, June Miles, John Milne, Denis Mitchell, Ben Nicholson, Kate Nicholson, Breon O’Casey, J A Park, Victor Pasmore, Bryan Pearce, Jack Pender, Douglas Portway, Peter Potworowski, Tommy Rowe, William Scott, Michael Snow, John Wells, Karl Weschke and Bryan Wynter.

Key sculptural works

Michael Snow Landscape Construction 1986
Oil on canvas board with metal construct; 32 x 28 cms (perspex box)

John Milne Resurgence
Bronze; Edition of 2/9
Literature: ‘The Sculpture of John Milne’, Peter Davies, 2000, pages 38 and 89

Tommy Rowe Two Forms Roskestal
Bronze; Edition 1/9

Paintings, highlights 

Patrick Heron 5:15 p.m. June 11 : 1984 (with charcoal) 1984
Oil and charcoal on canvas; 41 x 51 cms
Signed, titled, dated and inscribed on the reverse (also titled on canvas overlap) Exhibited: Patrick Heron, Barbican Art Gallery, London,1985, cat. no.64

Kate Nicholson Haystack in Cumbrian Fields c1950s
Oil on board; 99 x 91 cms
Signed on artist’s label on reverse

Breon O’Casey Untitled
Acrylic on paper; 33 x 50 cms
Signed and dated

Sought after prints

Victor Pasmore Points of Contact No.26 1974
Lithograph; 49 x 51 cms
Frame size: 101.5 x 76.5 cms Signed with monogram
There is a copy of this print in the Tate Collection

Ben Nicholson Abstract Composition 1935/36
Screenprint, 66.5 x 80 cms (sheet)
From the ‘Penwith Portfolio’ of 1973 Printed by Stanley Jones at The Curwen Press Signed in pencil on reverse Edition of 90

William Scott Blue Still Life 1975
Frame size: 80 x 100 cms Printed at Curwen Studio, London Published by Editions Electo Ltd, London Signed in the stone with the publication line

You can view more works here. A full coloured catalogue is available on request.

For further information and images, please contact Richard Blackborow:

Belgrave St Ives, 22 Fore Street, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 1HE

richard@belgravestives.co.uk

tel. 01736 794888

WINTER EXHIBITION 2018

WINTER EXHIBITION 2018 – Installation and PV

The show – a large mixed exhibition of prints, drawings, small paintings and 3D works by Modern British and Contemporary artists – opened on Saturday 1st December and runs through to 7 January 2019.

The Private View was spiced up by locally-made gin from St Ives Liquor and lively music by Melange Tous (Delphi Hudson & Nigel Bispham). A good time was had by all!

VIEW PICTURES / VIEW 3D WORKS

Belgrave @ British Art Fair

20 – 23 Sept 2018

The British Art Fair has just opened at the Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY. Please  do come and see us on the Second Floor, Stands 36 & 38, (illustrated above) if you can.

As well as the extraordinary sculpture Two Forms in Echelon 1961 by Barbara Hepworth, you will also find works by Robert Adams, W. Barns-Graham, Sven Berlin, Sandra Blow, Paul Feiler, Terry Frost, Patrick Hayman, Patrick Heron, Roger Hilton, Peter Lanyon, Denis Mitchell, Ben Nicholson, Kate Nicholson, Bryan Pearce, Brian Rice, William Scott, John Wells and others.

You can view a selection of the works on our website here, but the show is much better experienced by a visit. Please contact the gallery if you would like a complimentary eVitation.

PADRAIG MAC MIADHACHAIN A Life of Painting (1929 – 2017)

PRESS RELEASE

New One-Person Exhibition:
11 June – 2 July 2018, Belgrave St Ives
Private View: 9 June 6 – 8pm

Based in Swanage, Dorset from the early 1950s and working from studios in various parts of the world, Pádraig Mac Miadhacháin established a full time career painting for a living and living to paint.

Looking at places through the lens of colour is core to Pádraig Mac Miadhacháin’s work, and so we can understand why he over-wintered in places like the Balearic Islands (1950s), the Canary Islands (1960s and 1970s) and St Ives (1990s onwards), and how this fits with his earliest memories of his sea-side holidays on the east coast of Ireland. However, he always returned home to his adopted Swanage, where he continued to paint, swim, walk and ‘mooch along the beach’ (his words). This retrospective exhibition is the first attempt to view Mac Miadhacháin’s oeuvre in a chronological order. It is interesting to see not only the evolution of a personal visual language but also the artist’s ability to move from abstract to figurative and back again, from tonal painting to high chroma, minimalist to narrative, dependent on the subject, and artistic intent. The experiences of travel and the discovery of alternative cultures fed directly into his work and several paintings in this exhibition illustrate these various cultural references.

Fishing Port c1986 Oil on canvas; 50.5 x 61 cms

Pádraig Mac Miadhacháin was born in 1929 in Downpatrick, County Down, and trained at Belfast College of Art and the National College of Art in Dublin where he focused on portraiture before beginning his exhibiting career in 1951. Studying at Belfast and Dublin was a good solid training in technique and one that was to prove of huge underlying significance when his interest in much more contemporary art began to grow in the early 60s, following the winning of a Polish Government Scholarship to Krakow in 1960 and the resulting friendship with the landscape painter Piotr Potworowski, an artist with close links to the St Ives School. Further influence is suggested by Nicholas Usherwood in the catalogue essay to the new exhibition, where he points to “…an experimental shift of direction almost certainly confirmed by the shows he had alongside such distinguished Irish contemporary painters as Louis LeBrocquy, Camille Souter and Gerard Dillon in the Irish Exhibitions of Living Art at around the same time”.

Later in his career, the artists of the St Ives School were important influences; most notably, fellow Northern Irishman William Scott, Roger Hilton, Alfred Wallis and Ben Nicholson. Mac Miadhacháin was able to develop his own personal style without, at the same time, getting swamped by the tendency to abstraction at large.

The Harbour 2002 Oil on linen; 61 x 61 cm

The Gates Of Love Asila Morocco c1992 by Pádraig Mac Miadhacháin. Showing at Belgrave St Ives, 11th June to 2nd July 2018.

Mac Miadhacháin travelled widely throughout North and South America, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Republic of Ireland. A long exhibiting career included 17 solo shows in London and exhibitions in Madrid, Dublin, Belfast, Las Palmas, Krakow, Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver. He held a retrospective exhibition at the Molesworth Gallery, Dublin, in 1999, and in 2000 was one of three artists included in Fedden’s Choice at Lena Boyle Fine Art – an exhibition of the work of Mary Fedden’s favourite artists. The National Self Portrait Collection of Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland hold examples of his work, which can also be found in private collections all around the world.

A fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by Nicholas Usherwood is available.
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook @belgravestives #alifeofpainting

They Left Their Shadows 2008 Oil on board; 20 x 25 cm

Portrait of Pádraig Mac Miadhacháin by Samantha Cook

For further information and images, please contact Richard Blackborow:

Belgrave St Ives, 22 Fore Street, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 1HE

richard@belgravestives.co.uk

tel. 01736 794888

REVERBERATIONS – Modern Art in St Ives: 9 – 26 Feb 2018

9 – 26 February 2018

The current exhibition at Tate St Ives, ‘Modern Art and St Ives’, features most of the major names of post-War St Ives Art and places their work in the context of European and US Modernism of the period.

Our new exhibition presents 16 works by artists included in the Tate exhibition and brings them together both in the gallery and in a PDF-only catalogue displaying the works in a gallery context.

Includes works by: Kenneth Armitage, W.Barns-Graham, Trevor Bell, Sandra Blow, Alan Davie, Paul Feiler, Terry Frost, Patrick Hayman, Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron, Roger Hilton, Ben Nicholson, Kate Nicholson, Victor Pasmore and John Wells.

VIEW WEBSITE | VIEW CATALOGUE

Sven Berlin – Polymath

PRESS RELEASE
New One-Person Exhibition:
9–30 Oct 2017, Belgrave St Ives
Private View Sat 7 Oct 6 – 8pm

A major name in St Ives post-War art, Sven Berlin entered the canon of history through the critically acclaimed Tate exhibition ‘The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art’ in which Modernism was repositioned.

Berlin quickly made his mark as a romantic and unorthodox figure within the creative milieu that was the St Ives art scene of the 1940s and 1950s and the name of the Tate exhibition took its title from his infamous book ‘The Dark Monarch’. The book is a colourful portrayal of several identifiable characters in the town and it led to libel actions that almost ruined him financially.

Berlin carving outside the tower (his St Ives studio) in 1947

To note, he arrived in Cornwall before Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, and was a founder member of the Crypt Group (1946), which was the basis for the consolidation of the post-War school of British Modernism that St Ives became famous for. He was an adagio dancer before becoming a visual artist, and his powerful flamboyant personality clashed with several of the other artists centred around St Ives. In 1953 he left Cornwall in a horse and cart (people alive today still recount the story of him tearing away at a clatter and with speed) to live amongst the gypsy community of the New Forest finally settling in Dorset, where he died in 1999.

Berlin’s tremendous artistic output, traversed a wide range of media: sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, autobiography, novel writing and poetry. The graphic strength of Berlin’s two-dimensional work underpinned every element of his creative work, particularly the three-dimensional draughtsmanship to be found in his stone carving. It is a fact that all great sculptors are consummate drawers (see for example Elizabeth Frink, Frank Dobson, Gaudier Brzeska et al). In addition to this draftsmanship evident in the drawings and sculpture, the innate flamboyance of Berlin’s character was given full and vibrant expression in a series of beautifully rich still life works, natural history paintings and self-portraits, which can also be seen in the exhibition.

Berlin’s strength of character, which enabled him to reach the heights of artistic excellence while enduring grinding poverty, was matched by an immense physical strength enabling him to carve granite. Above all his life was characterised by an indomitable polymathic spirit. Belgrave St Ives represents the Estate of Sven Berlin and is pleased to continue the exhibition programme of this artist’s work that began in 1989 with Belgrave Gallery, London. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies ‘Polymath’.

Sven Berlin ‘Amanita Phalloides, New Forest’ 1954, oil on board; 34 x 52.5cm.

Sven Berlin ‘Praying Mantis’, pen, ink and wash; 38.5 x 29 cm.

Sven Berlin ‘OFC: Ancient Mariner’ 1995, marble; 6.25 cm (H).

NOTES TO EDITORS

For further information and images, please contact Richard Blackborow:
Belgrave St Ives, 22 Fore Street, St Ives, Cornwall TR26 1HE
richard@belgravestives.co.uk    tel. 01736 794888

#Polymath #SvenBerlin

ENDS

Installation: St Ives Exhibition 2017 & Debbie Urquhart ‘Recent St Ives Paintings’

 

Our two new exhibitions are now open after a Private View on Saturday night (1/4/17). The town has been busy with the re-opening of the ‘old’ part of Tate St Ives, and many visitors have been enjoying our new shows. Please click on an image above to enter a slideshow of the gallery installation. You can also view individual works in the exhibitions by visiting the gallery website using the following links:

ST IVES EXHIBITION 2017 | DEBBIE URQUHART ‘Recent St Ives Paintings’