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 artists who broke away from the more conservative

St Ives School The St Ives School refers to a group of artists living and working in the Cornish town of St Ives.Barbara Hepworth and

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life. Background and training Nicholson was born on 10 April 1894 in De ...

, 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 ag ...

and Sven Berlin. Other early members included: Leonard Fuller, Isobel Heath, Alexander Mackenzie, John Wells, Bryan Wynter, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, David Haughton, Denis Mitchell, and the printer Guido Morris. Herbert 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 r ...

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