The Cumberland Market Group was a short-lived artistic grouping in early twentieth century

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The group met in the studio of

Robert Bevan Robert Polhill Bevan (5 August 1865 – 8 July 1925) was a British painter, draughtsman and lithographer. He was a founding member of the Camden Town Group, the London Group, and the Cumberland Market Group. Early life He was born in Bruns ...

in Cumberland Market, the old

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

and straw market off

Albany Street Albany Street is a road in London running from Marylebone Road to Gloucester Gate following the east side of Regent's Park. It is about three-quarters of a mile in length. History The street was laid out during the 1820s, and takes its name ...

, and held one exhibition.

History

took the rooms on the first floor of 49 Cumberland Market, north of

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

, in April 1914, after the break-up of the

Camden Town Group The Camden Town Group was a group of English Post-Impressionist artists founded in 1911 and active until 1913. They gathered frequently at the studio of painter Walter Sickert in the Camden Town area of London. History In 1908, critic Frank ...

and the formation of its successor, the

London Group The London Group is a society based in London, England, created to offer additional exhibiting opportunities to artists besides the Royal Academy of Arts. Formed in 1913, it is one of the oldest artist-led organisations in the world. It was form ...

. He had been a founder member of both organizations. He held meetings there with his friends, and these became a formalised group towards the end of the year, founded by him with fellow

members,

Charles Ginner Charles Isaac Ginner (4 March 1878 – 6 January 1952) was a British painter of landscape and urban subjects. Born in the south of France at Cannes, of British parents, in 1910 he settled in London, where he was an associate of Spencer Gore a ...

and

Harold Gilman Harold John Wilde Gilman (11 February 187612 February 1919) was a British painter of interiors, portraits and landscapes, and a founder-member of the Camden Town Group. Early life and studies Harold John Wilde Gilman was the second son and ...

, who began to work with the style called '' Neo-Realism''. They defined what they did as exploring the shapes and colours of daily life (in particular those of north-west London), while also paying attention to their proper disposition compositionally and maintaining sensitivity to the medium of paint itself as key to an expressive image; the strong emphasis on natural observation was a differentiation from the Camden Town Group."Cumberland Market Group"
Grove Art Online
(subscription). Retrieved 20 September 2008. These principles were announced in a manifesto by Ginner published in ''New Age'' on 1 January 1914, and also employed as the preface to a joint show that year by Gilman and Ginner. It spoke against the "decorative" features of Post-Impressionist followers, as well as attacking academic art. Gilman-Tea-Cup

In 1915 they were joined by John Nash. In April of that year the only exhibition of the Cumberland Market Group was held in the

Goupil Gallery Goupil & Cie is an international auction house and merchant of contemporary art and collectibles. Jean-Baptiste Adophe Goupil founded Goupil & Cie in 1850. Goupil & Cie became a leading art dealership in 19th-century France, with its headquart ...

. The group was subsequently enlarged by the addition of the American artist Edward McKnight Kauffer and by

Christopher Nevinson Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (13 August 1889 – 7 October 1946) was an English figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, who was one of the most famous war artists of World War I. He is often referred to by his initial ...

, but it held no further formal exhibitions. From 1916 to 1917 a School of Painting was run in Soho, based on the group's artistic philosophy. Goupil’s continued to be of help by allowing the group's Saturday afternoon "At Homes" to be moved to their Grey Room. Although not officially dissolved, the group lapsed after Gilman's death in 1919. In 1921 Bevan organised, with Ginner, an exhibition of ''Un Groupe de Peintres Anglais Modernes'' at the Galerie Druet in Paris to present their own work and that of Stanislawa de Karlowska, Gilman, and the next generation artists E.M. O'Rourke Dickey, McKnight Kauffer, John Nash,

Edward Wadsworth Edward Alexander Wadsworth (29 October 1889 – 21 June 1949) was an English artist, closely associated with modernist Vorticism movement. He painted coastal views, abstracts, portraits and still-life in tempera medium and works printed usin ...

, William Roberts and Ethelbert White.

Legacy

''A Countryman in Town: Robert Bevan and the Cumberland Market Group'' was held at

Southampton City Art Gallery The Southampton City Art Gallery is an art gallery in Southampton, southern England. It is located in the Civic Centre on Commercial Road. The gallery opened in 1939 with much of the initial funding from the gallery coming from two bequests, o ...

, 26 September – 14 December 2008. It moved to Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, 13 January – 21 March 2009. The catalogue of the same name contains useful essays on Robert Bevan, by Frances Stenlake; on the Cumberland Market Group, by John Yeates and on Cumberland Market itself, by

Patrick Baty Patrick Baty FRSA (born 1956) is a British historian of architectural paint and colour, who works as a consultant in the decoration of historic buildings. Early years He was educated at St Benedict's School, in London, and after a short peri ...

(Bevan’s great-grandson).

Notes and references

Bibliography

*Robert Bevan, Robert Bevan: A Memoir by his Son. London, Studio Vista. 1965. *Frances Stenlake, Robert Bevan from Gauguin to Camden Town. London, Unicorn Press. 2008. *John Yeates, NW1. The Camden Town Artists. A social history. Somerset, Heale Gallery. 2007.

External links

The Camden School - to download book
{{Camden Town Group British artist groups and collectives Post-Impressionism English art