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Edward Franklin FISK
Born in New York City, the son of a map engraver, he decided early in life to become an artist.
Fisk studied in 1904 at the Art Students League, and in 1909 took life classes at the National Academy of Design, and then studied under Robert Henri at his studio, where he became a close friend of Stuart Davis.
From 1912 he studied in Paris under the Fauvist painters Pierre Laprade and Othon Friesz. There he attended the salons hosted by Leo and Gertrude Stein, making friends with many Americans abroad, and others from many countries, and attended exhibitions of work by the modernists Picasso and Matisse.
Back in the USA, he mixed with those progressive and avante garde artists who frequented Greenwich Village. He married Lucy Spalding Young, and in 1933-34, on a year’s sabbatical from his University post, he studied in England, where he John Rothenstein in Sheffield, toured Cornwall, and researched into techniques in etching in London. Some results of this experience are the titles Harbour in Penzance Cornwall (mezzotint 1935) and Penzance, Cornwall (mezzotint 1935).
Frederick R FITZGERALD
A painter of coastal and marine subjects, Whybrow notices this artist in St Ives during the first decade of the 20th century. His addresses were in Cheltenham and Boscombe, Hampshire, and he appears to have travelled in Norway.
In 1897 he exhibited in Birmingham (Wood) and many other shows followed, most frequently at RI and ROI.
David Tovey, the historian of the St Ives Arts colonies, writes (2011): Fitzgerald was said to be living in Cheltenham, when he was signed in as a guest at the Arts Club by the Hobkirk brothers in February and November 1896. Accordingly, he may well have been studying art with Stuart Hobkirk in Cheltenham before deciding, on Hobkirk’s recommendation, to try the newly formed Olsson School. Certainly, he became a marine painter, in both oils and watercolours, and, by 1897, when he first exhibited his work, he was based in Boscombe, Hampshire, which was to be his home for the rest of his career.
He travelled widely and is probably best known for his depictions of the Norwegian coast. However, he also returned to West Penwith from time to time. He was a visitor at Mrs Griggs, Zennor, in November 1913, making a sketch in her Visitors' book, and Whybrow records him as a member of the Arts Club at about this time. A watercolour Silvery Morning, St Ives has appeared on the market, whilst another watercolour of Clodgy Point is dated 1927. Two of his oils, including a pure seascape entitled A Seaway, are owned by the Russell-Cotes Gallery, Bournemouth.
Miss FITZHERBERT
This may be Dorothy Fitzherbert, an artist with an address in Kingswear, South Devon who exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool in 1911, as noticed by J&G. She was also an exhibitor at NAG with the NSA in March 1908, and in the autumn exhibition of 1909.
Herbert G FITZHERBERT
A New Zealand artist who lived at St Ives, he was known for his clever sketches and caricatures and remarkable comic eye. His book Caricatures from the Cornish Riviera (1910) was of local people and artists.
He published two books from his studio in St Ives, and contributed to Punch. He participated in the Show Days at St Ives in 1911, 1912 and 1913, with both caricatures and paintings, one title being Moorland. His addresses for exhibition were given as Carbis Bay, Cornwall (1912) and Exmouth, Devon (1921).
Bernard FLEETWOOD-WALKER
Trained as gold- and silver-smith, he studied painting at Birmingham School of Arts and Crafts. He also trained in London and Paris. He taught art and took annual trips to Cornwall with students, usually to Polperro with visits to St Ives.
He later shared a Porthmeor studio in St Ives with David COX, with whom he became friendly in the late 1940s. Of Cox he painted a portrait that was exhibited with STISA in 1949 at Swindon.
Between the years 1928-39 he exhibited in seven separate exhibitions in the Paris Salons, winning an Honourable Mention for his initial entry The Schoolboy, and both bronze and silver medals in later years.
Posthumously, a review of his remaining work and studio contents is a work-in-progress, to be found at http://www.fleetwood-walker.co.uk.
Leila FLEMMING
The first appearance of Miss Flemming in the NAG Sales records is in November 1897, when she sold Cactus Dahlias for 5 guineas. In 1899 her Wallflowers and Sketch at Lamorna were both purchased by a local buyer. Her painting An Autumn Evening was sold in September 1900 at NAG to the visiting architect (Sir) Aston WEBB, ARA, who also purchased Samuel John Lamorna BIRCH's The Little Wood at the same exhibition.
In 1902 she showed and sold Red Hot Pokers and Japanese Anemones, also at NAG. In summer 1905 she exhibited two views of Mevagissey Harbour at NAG.
Mary FLETCHER
Mary Fletcher was born in Derby and studied Fine Art and Art History at Nottingham University, where she achieved her BA (Hons). She is also a trained art therapist, and adept at painting, ceramics and print-making and the connection they make to life experiences and helping others to express themselves. Her interests lie in feminist art criticism and in expression of the world of ideas through art.
She initiated the art group 'Taking Space' (1994-present 2010), a collective of women artists who show their work together around West Cornwall in various venues.
Mary Fletcher’s short film, “My Uncle was always at Grandma’s” was awarded the jury prize in 'The Edge’, the category for experimental films, at Cornwall Film Festival in November 2010.
Rosamund M B FLETCHER
Sculptor who trained as a painter at the FORBES SCHOOL, at the Ruskin School in Oxford, and the Slade. In 1986 she commissioned and published an illustrated monograph in memory of her father William Teulon Blandford FLETCHER (1858-1936) and his work.
William Teulon Blandford FLETCHER
The son of a linen draper (born 8 November 1858, London GRO), much against his father's wishes Fletcher studied at South Kensington School of Art from age sixteen to twenty, where he won the Silver Medal and the Queen's prize. During that period he also visited Brittany and made acquaintance with Stanhope FORBES and his friends for the first time.
At Verlat's Academie Royale in Antwerp, he joined the life class and made firm friends with Frank BRAMLEY, Frederick HALL (Fred) and Walter OSBORNE. He spent some time painting at Pont-Aven and Dinan in France, befriending Frederick MILLARD (Fred) and meeting Jules BASTIEN-LEPAGE along the way. In the RA shows of 1884, he was to show four paintings executed at Pont Aven and Quimperle, three of which were immediately purchased.
He then spent eight months of 1885 in Newlyn working on a single large canvas - Dame Grigson's Academy - before leaving the artists' colony forever. Stanhope FORBES described him as 'a good friend, but morose.' He continued to travel, mainly in the rural areas of Berkshire, sometimes with Walter Osborne, and after some foreign travel married his fiancée of six years, Norah Harris. They continued to travel to such an extent that they thought of themselves as wandering artists. Finally they were to establish homes, first in Dorking (1904) where their daughter Rosamund M B FLETCHER was born, and lastly in Abingdon, near Oxford from 1915.
Fletcher died, age 77, on 27 June, 1936 at Abingdon, Oxfordshire (GRO).
