Gertrude Harvey (née Bodinnar, 1879 – 1966) was a British artist who was an active member of the

Newlyn School The Newlyn School was an art colony of artists based in or near Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, on the south coast of Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early twentieth century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was reminisc ...

of artists and a regular exhibitor at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

Biography

Gertrude Harvey was the eighth of the ten children born to Ann Crews Bodinnar, née Curnow, and her husband John Matthews Bodinnar, a

cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

. Her maternal grandfather, William Curnow, was a market gardener and a notable botanist. Harvey acted as a model for students at the Forbes School of Painting in

Newlyn Newlyn ( kw, Lulyn: Lu 'fleet', Lynn/Lydn 'pool') is a seaside town and fishing port (the largest fishing port in England) in south-west Cornwall, UK.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' Newlyn lies on the shore of Mount ...

and through the social scene associated with the School met Harold Harvey for whom she also modelled. The couple married in, or around, 1911 and set up home at Maen Cottage in Newlyn. Through modeling, Gertrude Harvey became fascinated by art and by the working methods of the artists based in Newlyn. Among those she modelled for were

Laura Knight Dame Laura Knight ( Johnson; 4 August 1877 – 7 July 1970) was an English artist who worked in oils, watercolours, etching, engraving and drypoint. Knight was a painter in the figurative, realist tradition, who embraced English Impressi ...

Harold Knight Harold Knight (27 January 1874 – 3 October 1961) was an English portrait, genre and landscape painter. Knight was born in Nottingham, England, the son of William Knight, architect, and studied at Nottingham School of Art under Wilson Foste ...

and Ruth Simpson. Largely self-taught she became an accomplished artist in her own right, mainly painting still-lifes, flowers and landscapes. Initially, Harvey exhibited and sold her oil paintings and other works through the local

Newlyn Art Gallery Newlyn Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Newlyn, Cornwall, UK. Opened in 1895, designed by James Hicks of Redruth and financed by John Passmore Edwards the gallery was conceived as a home and exhibition venue for the Newlyn ...

but throughout the 1920s and 1930s exhibited in various London galleries. One of her London exhibitions, with a catalogue introduction by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, was a sell-out with every painting being purchased. As well as taking part in joint exhibitions with her husband, notably at the Leicester Galleries in 1918 and 1920, Harvey also exhibited works at the

. Between 1930 and 1949, Harvey had twenty works selected for Royal Academy exhibitions. From 1945 to 1949 she was regular exhibitor with the St Ives Society of Artists. After Harold Harvey died in 1941, Gertrude Harvey continued living at Maen Cottage until 1960, when she moved into a nursing home in St Just.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Gertrude 1879 births 1964 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists English women painters Newlyn School of Artists Painters from Cornwall People from Newlyn