Archive for category Author: Tom Cross
Painting The Warmth Of The Sun: St Ives Artists 1939-1975 || Tom Cross
Posted by henry in Author: Tom Cross, Publisher: Halsgrove, Subject: History on May 9, 2008
When this book was first published in 1984, the artists of the St Ives colony were largely disregarded and little was generally known about what is now seen as one of the major movements in the recent history of British art. The change over the intervening 24 years has brought the opening of Tate St Ives and a much wider appreciation of the many artists who made the move to Cornwall.
The result is that what was, on first publication, a pioneering book has now become almost a standard work and one which deserves to be in great demand. Extensive in its coverage and generously illustrated, with a very good amount of colour, Tom Cross’s work in no way betrays its age and sits well beside its sister publication, The Shining Sands, which
covers the period from 1880 – 1930. Together, the two books provide a continuous history of painting and sculpture in the South West from the very beginnings almost to the present day.
Both books are serious histories and this one has the added advantage of interviews and conversations with artists, many of whole are sadly no longer alive. Both should have a place in the library of any serious student or collector of British art.
Halsgrove 1984, revised reissue 2008
£34.99
The Shining Sands: Artists in Newlyn and St Ives 1880 – 1930 || Tom Cross
Posted by henry in Author: Tom Cross, Publisher: Halsgrove, Subject: History on March 18, 2008
This is a remarkable book that manages to encompass a broad sweep of history which it deals with in considerable depth while maintaining an accessibility that makes it as much for anyone generally interested in art as for the serious student of art history.
Schools of art are as often creations of critics or of their time as they are of physical existence. That the Cornish artists really were a group however, is evinced by a photograph from 1890 of the Newlyn cricket team which includes Frank Bramley, William Wainwright and Stanhope Forbes. This was a lot more than just a number of artists who happened to paint in the same place at the same time. Indeed, looking at the illustrations, it is frequently necessary to refer to the captions to be sure who the particular artist is; subject matter, treatments and styles are remarkably and probably deliberately similar.
The avowed intention of the Newlyn artists was to work from nature and the depict reality in a way that accepted Victorian masters did not. That said, there is a tendency to romanticise the subjects and some very careful composition – did fish sellers and net menders really arrange themselves so neatly on the beach? – but these are essentially narrative paintings that record the lives of the native population as much as they make use of the local light and the landscape.
The artists of the Lamorna valley and St Ives are more noticeably modern in their approach: there are more landscapes and the figurative works tend to have more obvious sitters. This is where Alfred Munnings, Harold and Laura Knight and Ben Nicholson come in.
Tom Cross provides as readable yet detailed history of art movements in Newlyn and St Ives and, for less than £35, you get 100 colour illustrations and another 100 in black and white, all reproduced to Halsgrove’s usual high standard.
Halsgrove 1994, 2nd edition 2008
£34.99
The Artist Who Loved Boats: Percy "Powder" Thorburn || Tom Cross, David Hale & Pin Armitage
Posted by henry in Author: David Hale, Author: Percy Thorburn, Author: Pin Armitage, Author: Tom Cross, Publisher: Halsgrove, Subject: Boats, Subject: Landscape, Subject: Maritime on August 22, 2006
Percy Thorburn was well educated and came from a wealthy family. As a boy, he ran away to sea and became involved in a mutiny on board a square-rigged schooner in Australia. Later, he was involved in a gun-running expedition from Brixham to Africa but, changing his mind when involved with cut-throat pirates, he made for a different port and exchanged the guns for wine. All this, it says here with a commendably straight face, provided him with the experience necessary for a career with the RNVR aboard a minesweeper in the Great War.
I’ve started with this tale of what can only be described as a “character” because this is a book which is as much about the man, Percy Thorburn, as his paintings. We’re not told how he got his nickname, but a broad guess seems in order.
An entertaining life story doesn’t make a great painter, but it does concentrate the mind and excite the interest. In this case, it also tells us that this was, indeed, a man who loved boats and that when he paints them, he knows what he’s talking about, in much the same way as Joseph Conrad’s stories of the sea are informed by personal experience.
The first thing you’re going to notice, leafing through these pages, is that by no means all of Percy Thorburn’s paintings are of boats: there are a lot of landscapes and coastal scenes as well and it’s clear that the artist loved the places boats took him just as much as the boats themselves. These, in spite of what the front cover illustration might suggest, are not the grand vessels that most marine artists paint, but rather small working boats just going about their business. Although this often involves quite heavy seas, Thorburn does not introduce drama for its own sake and you won’t see towering waves that threaten to swamp the craft at any minute.
As an artist, Percy Thorburn is perfectly competent and his landscapes have a tranquil quality that suggest a sailor’s rest. His boats are well-depicted without being over-detailed and they record the ordinary, mostly inshore, craft that often go unremembered. You may never have heard of a Leigh Bawley, but there’s one here and, if you need to know what it looks like, A Leigh Bawley in the Evening Sun will fit the bill nicely.
As an entertaining read and a good look round a variety of maritime subjects, this book is well worth the cover price. I’m not sure that it particularly informs the practising artist, but this isn’t its intention. If Percy Thorburn’s life had gone unrecorded, we’d be just that little bit poorer.
First published 2006
£24.99
