Looking west across Porthmeor beach towards Tate St Ives - geograph

The Penwith Society of Arts is an art group formed in St Ives,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, UK, in early 1949 by

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

ists who broke away from the more conservative St Ives School. It was originally led by

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadi ...

and Ben Nicholson, and included members of the Crypt Group of the St Ives Society, including

Peter Lanyon George Peter Lanyon (8 February 1918 – 31 August 1964) was a British painter of landscapes leaning heavily towards abstraction. Lanyon was one of the most important artists to emerge in post-war Britain. Despite his early death at the age ...

and

Sven Berlin Sven Paul Berlin (14 September 1911 – 14 December 1999) was an English painter, writer and sculptor. He is now best known for his controversial fictionalised autobiography ''The Dark Monarch'', which was withdrawn just days after publica ...

. Other early members included: Leonard Fuller,

Isobel Heath Isobel Atterbury Heath (29 December 1908 – 1989) was a British artist and poet active in the St Ives area of Cornwall. Biography Heath was born in Kingston Upon Hull. Little is known of her childhood but later in life she indicated that her ...

, Alexander Mackenzie, John Wells,

Bryan Wynter Bryan Herbert Wynter (8 September 1915 – 2 February 1975)Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Order of the British Empire, CBE (8 June 1912 – 26 January 2004) was one of the foremost British Abstract art, abstract artists, a member of the influential Penwith Society of Arts. Early life Wilhelmina Barns-Graha ...

, David Haughton, Denis Mitchell, and the printer Guido Morris.

Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read ...

was invited to be the first president. The group bought fishing lofts along Porthmeor beach to use as artists' studios, after an acrimonious split from the established St Ives Society of Artists. Then on 8 February 1949, after a town meeting at the Castle Inn, a dissident group set up shop in Fore street, St Ives. In 1960 an old pilchard factory was taken over with converted studios above. After ten years of sincere guidance and deep interest, funds were raised by Barbara Hepworth, with the aim of converting adjacent buildings into studios for craft and sculpture as well as painting; these expanded the project still further at Back Road, St Ives. In 1967

Kathleen Watkins Kathleen Watkins (born 17 October 1934) is an Irish broadcaster, harpist, actress, singer and author. She is the widow of Gay Byrne. She played Grace Gifford in the 1966 docudrama ''Insurrection Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a re ...

was appointed curator and secretary (1967-2013) of the society advising, among other things, clients on potential purchases.

Members

, the current full members were:

References

External links

Penwith Society of Arts
from the Newlyn fish industry forum
Penwith Society of Arts
Cornish culture Clubs and societies in Cornwall Arts in St Ives, Cornwall Arts organisations based in the United Kingdom Arts organizations established in 1949 1949 establishments in England {{Cornwall-stub