Thomas Cooper Gotch - The Child Enthroned 1894

Thomas Cooper Gotch - My Crown And Sceptre 1891

Thomas Cooper Gotch or T. C. Gotch (1854–1931) was an English painter and book illustrator loosely associated with the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

movement; he was the brother of

John Alfred Gotch John Alfred Gotch (28 September 1852, Kettering, Northamptonshire – 17 January 1942, Kettering, Northamptonshire) was a noted English architect and architectural historian. His brother was the Pre-Raphaelite painter and illustrator Thomas Coo ...

, the architect. Gotch studied art in

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 ...

and Antwerp before he married and studied in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

with his wife, Caroline, a fellow artist. Returning to Britain, they settled into the

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 Moun ...

art colony in Cornwall. He first made paintings of natural, pastoral settings before immersing himself in the romantic,

romantic style for which he is best known. His daughter was often a model for the colourful depictions of young girls. His works have been exhibited at the Royal Academy,

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...

and the Paris Salon.

Personal life

Thomas Gotch was born 10 December 1854 in the Mission House in

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

.''Thomas Cooper Gotch.''
Cornwall Artists. Retrieved 4 October 2012.''Thomas Cooper Gotch.''
Project Kettering. Manor House Museum, Kettering. Retrieved 5 October 2012. He was the fourth son born to Mary Ann Gale Gotch
Historical collections relating to Northamptonshire: family histories, pedigrees, biographies, tracts on witches, historical antiquities, reprints of rare and unique tracts ...
'. Printed by J. Taylor & Son; 1896. p. 115. and Thomas Henry Gotch (born 1805), who was a shoe maker. He had an elder brother,

, who was a successful architect and author. In 1881 he married fellow art student Caroline Burland Yates (1854–1945) at

's St Peter's Church. His daughter,

Phyllis Marion Gotch Phyllis Marian Gotch (1882–1963), also known as Phyllis Maureen Gotch and in later life as Marquise de Verdières, was the only child of Newlyn-based artists, Caroline Burland Yates and Thomas Cooper Gotch. She featured in several of her fath ...

was sometimes a model for her father. After completing his studies, Gotch travelled to Australia in 1883. Gotch and his wife settled in

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 ...

in 1887. The couple and their daughter were key participants in the Newlyn

art colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

. In addition to his time spent in France and Belgium while studying art, Gotch also travelled to Austria, Australia, South Africa, Italy and Denmark. Thomas Cooper Gotch died on 1 May 1931 of a heart attack while in London for an exhibition. He was buried in

Sancreed Sancreed (''Cornish: Eglossankres'') is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, approximately three miles (5 km) west of Penzance. Sancreed civil parish encompasses the settlements of Bejouans, Bosvennen, ...

churchyard in Cornwall.

Education

With his parents' support, in 1876 and 1877 he first studied at Heatherley's

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

in London and then at Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp in 1877 and 1878. Then in 1879 Gotch attended

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

with Alphonse Legros in

. Gotch met his friend

Henry Scott Tuke Henry Scott Tuke (12 June 1858 – 13 March 1929), was an English visual artist; primarily a painter, but also a photographer. His most notable work was in the Impressionist style, and he is best known for his paintings of nude boys and you ...

and his future wife Caroline Yates at Slade. After their marriage, Thomas and Caroline studied in

at Académie Julian and Académie Laurens in the early 1880s. It was in Paris that he adopted the

plein-air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

approach of painting outdoors.''Thomas Cooper Gotch.''
Tate. Retrieved 5 October 2012.

Career

In Newlyn he founded the Newlyn Industrial Classes, where the local youth could learn the arts & crafts. He also helped to set up the

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 ...

, and served on its committee all his life. Among his friends in Newlyn was fellow artist Stanhope Forbes and

Albert Chevallier Tayler Albert Chevallier Tayler (1862–1925) was an English artist who specialised in portrait and genre painting, but was also involved in the plein air methods of the Newlyn School. He studied at Heatherley's School of Art, Royal Academy School ...

. In Newlyn, like other art colony artists, he used the

approach for making paintings outdoors. He was also inspired by James McNeill Whistler's techniques for creating compositions and paintings. His style changed following an 1891-1892 a visit to

and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

; His works were transformed from the Newlyn "rural realistic" style to a

style that embraced more vibrant, exuberant colours and "returned to allegorical genre painting". His first such painting was ''My Crown and Sceptre'' made in 1892,''Thomas Cooper Gotch.''
Penlee House. Retrieved 5 October 2012. Commenting upon his new style, Tate said:

His new combination of symbolic female figures, decorative Italian textiles and the static order of early Renaissance art finally brought him recognition.

On the provisional committee for the 1895 opening of the Newlyn Art Gallery, Gotch exhibited ''The Reading Hour'' and ''A Golden Dream'' at the inaugural exhibition. Chris Leuchars for Project Kettering has said of Gotch's work:

Although Thomas Gotch is not widely recognised in international art histories, his position and friendships in Newlyn, and the mastery of his artwork, provide him some level of recognition in British painting history and his works make valuable contributions to collections around the world. He has work in key collections in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Thomas Gotch was a recognised success during his lifetime and enjoyed considerable public acclaim. He was a regular exhibitor at London's Royal Academy and contributed to numerous other national and international exhibitions. His works are still regularly exhibited and are often the subject of academic studies. Over his artistic career Gotch was also a model for other artists. For instance, he modelled for illustrations of ''King Arthur's Wood'' for Elizabeth Forbes.

Memberships

He helped establish, was a prominent force or member of the following organizations. *

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

(NEAC) - founding member * Newlyn Industrial Classes - founder *

- Committee member * Newlyn Society of Artists (NSA), Newlyn, Cornwall - from 1895, chairman from 1924 to 1931 * Royal British Colonial Society of Artists (RBC) - founding member and President between 1913 and 1928 * Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) * Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) *

Royal West of England Academy The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is Bristol's oldest art gallery, located in Clifton, Bristol, near the junction of Queens Road and Whiteladies Road. Situated in a Grade 2* listed building, it hosts five galleries and an exhibition progr ...

(RWA)

Exhibitions

The following had exhibitions of Gotch's work:''Thomas Cooper Gotch: Biography and Image Gallery.''
ArtMagick. Retrieved 20 February 2012. During his life: * 1880 +: Royal Academy * 1888: ''An Artist of the Newlyn School.'', Manchester City Art Gallery * 1890: Dowdeswells * 1894: Nottingham * 1895: Opening exhibition and thereafter for the Newlyn Art Gallery. * 1896: Won a gold medal at the Berlin Exhibition. * 1902: Whitechapel * 1910:

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

retrospective show * He also exhibited at Paris Salon. Following his death * 1958: Newlyn Society of Artists, Truro * 1979: Artists of the Newlyn School * 1987: Newlyn Art Gallery * 1987:

* 1992: Artists from Cornwall Exhibit, RWE, Bristol * 2001: ''T. C. Gotch: The Last of the Pre-Raphaelites'', Royal Cornwall Museum Exhibition, Truro * 2005: Faces of Cornwall Exhibition at Penlee House, Penzance exhibited ''Mrs Sherwood Hunter''.

Works

Gotch landscapes,

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

s and genre works using watercolour, oil and pastels. The following is a partial list of his works. Most of his earnings came from painting portraits, particularly children and women. * ''A Garden'' * ''A Golden Dream'', 1895. Used for theme for 100th anniversary of Newlyn Art Gallery. * ''A Jest'' * ''Alleluia'', 1896, Tate Gallery. Purchased for the nation. One of the best examples of Gotch's Pre-Raphaelite works. * ''Blossom (Girl in a Cornish garden)'' * ''Crossing the Bar'', 1923 * ''Dalaphne'' * ''Dawn of Womanhood'', 1900 * ''Death the Bride'', 1894/5 * ''Evening'' * ''Fireside Story'' * ''Girl at Porch, Chywoone Hill, Newlyn'', 1889, oil,

Penlee House Penlee House is a museum and art gallery located in the town of Penzance in Cornwall, and is home to a great many paintings by members of the Newlyn School, including many by Stanhope Forbes, Norman Garstin, Walter Langley and Lamorna Birch ...

* ''Girl in a Cornish Garden'', Penlee House * ''Harvest'' * ''Heir to All the Ages'', 1897 * ''High Velt, South Africa'', 1910 * ''It is an Ancient Mariner'', 1925 * ''John Alfred Gotch'', 1926 * ''Mental Arithmetic'' * ''Mounts Bay'' * ''Mounts Bay, Autumn'', 1905 * ''Mrs Sherwood Hunter'', oil on canvas * ''My Crown and Sceptre'', 1892. First Pre-Raphaelite style painting. * ''Penzance from Newlyn'' * ''Portrait of a girl with eyes closed'', charcoal * ''Portrait of Phyllis Gotch in Blue'', 198? * ''Self Portrait'', 1912 * ''Sharing Fish'', ca. 1910, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro * ''Sir William Drake in the Morning Room,'' 1885 * ''Study of a Young Woman'' * ''Study for 'The Birthday Party'' * ''The Awakening'' * ''The Birthday'', 1930 * ''The Child Enthroned'', 1894 * ''The Clarinet Player'' * ''The Dancing Lesson'' * ''The Exile'' * ''The Flag'', 191? * ''The Lantern Parade'', 1910 * ''The Madonna of the Mount'', 1926 * ''The Message'' 1903 * ''The Mother Enthroned'', 1912-1919 * ''The Nymph'', 1920 * ''The Nymph and The Exile'', 1929–30 * ''The Orchard'', 1887, notable early work * ''The Pageant of Children'', 1895 * ''The Reading Hour'', 1895 * ''The Return From The Pageant'', 1907 * ''The Sailor's Farewell'', oil, Penlee House * ''The Story of the Money Pig'' * ''The Vow'', 1920s? * ''The Wizard'', notable early work * ''Young Girl Reading a Manuscript''

Gallery

File:Thomas Cooper Gotch - The Orchard 1887.jpg, ''The Orchard'', 1887 File:Thomas Cooper Gotch - Sharing Fish 1891.jpg, ''Sharing Fish'', 1891 File:ThomasCooperGotch-DeathTheBride.png, ''Death the Bride'' (1894/5) File:ThomasCooperGotch The Pageant Of Childhood.jpg, ''The Pageant of Childhood'', 1895 File:Thomas Cooper Gotch - Alleluia 1896.jpg, ''Alleluia'', 1896 File:Thomas Cooper Gotch The Message.png, ''The Message'', 1903 File:Thomas Cooper Gotch - The Flag 1910.jpg, ''The Flag'', 1910 File:ThomasCooperGotch The Mother Enthroned.jpg, ''The Mother Enthroned'', 1912-1919 File:Thomas Cooper Gotch - The Exile 1930.jpg, ''The Exile'', 1930 File:Gotch Thomas Cooper A Jest.jpg, ''A Jest'' File:Thomas Cooper Gotch - La Reine Clothilde.jpg, ''La Reine Clothilde'' File:ThomasCooperGotch Monsigneur Love.jpg, ''Monsigneur Love'' File:ThomasCooperGotch Study Of A Young Woman.jpg, ''Study of a Young Woman'' File:Thomas Cooper Gotch TheAwakening.jpg, ''The Awakening'' File:Thomas Cooper Gotch TheDancingLesson.jpg, ''The Dancing Lesson'' File:Thomas Cooper Gotch Dawn Of Womanhood.jpg, ''The Dawn of Womanhood'' File:Thomas Cooper Gotch - They Come.jpg, ''They Come'' Gotch collaborated with John Drew Mackenzie on a set of copper plates that represents air, earth, fire and water, melding the styles of both artists in a symbolic Biblical theme.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gotch, Thomas Cooper 1854 births 1931 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters English illustrators Members of the Royal West of England Academy Newlyn School of Artists People from Kettering Pre-Raphaelite painters Pre-Raphaelite illustrators 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists