Norman Stansfield Cornish (18 November 1919 – 1 August 2014) was an English mining artist.
Career
Cornish was the last surviving member of the "Pitman's Academy" art school at the
Spennymoor Settlement
Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is south of Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers Green and Tudhoe.
History Origins
The l ...
in
County Durham
County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly â€About North East E ...
in
North East England
North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...
.
A former miner, he was known for his pictures of mining community life. Other artistic contemporaries of Cornish from the Spennymoor Settlement included
Herbert Dees
Herbert may refer to:
People Individuals
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
Name
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert, ...
,
Robert Heslop
Robert Heslop (5 February 1907–1969) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Gateshead and Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshir ...
and
Tom McGuinness.
Cornish started work as a miner in 1933, at the age of 14.
He continued to work as a miner even after his painting career was established, until he retired as a miner and became a full-time artist in 1966.
[
Cornish was granted an honorary Master of Arts degree by ]Newcastle University
Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...
in 1974,[ and an honorary doctorate by Sunderland University in 2012.][
He was married to Sarah. They had two children, John and Ann.
]
Legacy
To mark the 100th anniversary of Cornish's birth, the Bowes Museum organised the first "major retrospective" of Cornish's work. The exhibition was scheduled to run from November 2019 to February 2020. An exhibition of some of Cornish's 269 sketchbooks was scheduled for display over the same period at Durham University
, mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1)
, established = (university status)
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 1,830 (2020)
, administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19)
, chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen
, vice_chan ...
's Palace Green Library.
In 2019, a 'Norman Cornish Trail' was created in Spennymoor to allow people to follow a 1.5 mile route to view many of the scenes painted by Cornish.Spennymoor Town Hall
Spennymoor Town Hall is a municipal building in Spennymoor, County Durham, England. The town hall is the meeting place of Spennymoor Town Council.
History
After population growth associated with the increasing number of coal mines in the town, ...
has been dedicated to exhibiting paintings by Cornish.
References
External links
Artist's website
*
1919 births
2014 deaths
English miners
Pitman painters
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