Frank BUDGEN
St Ives Times (10 Oct 1913) reported: 'Mr F S Budgen is sending work to be exhibited at the Goupil gallery'. And a week later they remarked on his works at the gallery, which included The woods near Knill's Monument and coastal studies. He worked from 5 Piazza Studios, St Ives. He also exhibited A Dorsetshire Village by Moonlight (1913) in St Ives.
The artist is Frank Budgen, great friend of the Irish writer James Joyce: "I want to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city one day suddenly disappeared from the earth it could be reconstructed out of my book." (Joyce is alleged to have said this to the artist as he was laboring on his epic novel Ulysses in Zurich.) Identification has been confirmed by a recent correspondent (2012) who also referred to his studio address as above listed in the Piazza Studios.
media
Landscape artist specialising in moonlight scenes; sculptor
works and access
Works include: A Dorsetshire Village by Moonlight (1913); The woods near Knill's Monument (1913) St Ives
exhibitions
ROI (2)
Goupil Gallery (4) October 1913
memberships
misc further info
'Just to confirm that the Frank Budgen you mention on your website is indeed
the same Frank Budgen who was friends with Joyce. I've been working through a
box of the artist's papers held at the Joyce Foundation in Zurich, and have
found some correspondence which leaves little doubt: in Budgen's
autobiography, Myselves When Young, he mentions 'spending a few months in
Cornwall with Louis Sargent'. A letter later sent to Budgen's Paris residence
by Sargent has the address of '5 Piazza Studios, St Ives', matching the
article quoted on your website.'
With many thanks for this confirmation!
references
St Ives Times 10 and 17 Oct 1913
Hardie (2009) Artists in Newlyn and West Cornwall (p316)
Johnson & Greutzner (1975) Dictionary of British Artists
Whybrow (1994) St Ives (1901-10 list)