Reg Watkiss was born in London, and for more than 50 years played a major role in the West Cornwall arts scene as not only a painter but outstandingly as a photographer and an author. Painting and photography were his subjects from the start when he began studying at the Walthamstow School of Art. From there with a scholarship to the RA schools, he twice while there won the David Murrary Landscape Travelling Prize.
He arrived in West Cornwall at the completion of his studies, and in 1958 married his wife Gill WATKISS, a much acclaimed painter. They have remained in Cornwall throughout their married life, bringing up their family in Penzance. Reg also taught and lectured on photography and art in Penzance schools and at the Mid Cornwall College, St Austell. Meantime, he began to collect and created a large photographic archive about Cornwall with everything from etchings, prints, glass slides and photographs, as well as films. The skill with photography led to an interest in film-making, and he engaged in the production of some short films which have added to his archive, and have been employed in exhibitions and museums around the country, along with his drawings and paintings.
In the 1970s he published two books of early photographs of the Land's End peninsula, Penzance and Newlyn. A third book of archived photographs, Lost Cornwall, was published in 2004, followed in 2006 by his final book, Reflections of Old Cornwall.
[Information taken from Obituary provided by Frank Ruhrmund, The Cornishman, 22 April, 2010]
The artist exhibited and sold Low Water, St Ives on the 7 February 1897 at NAG. Later, he was noted to have exhibited at Glasgow.
His painting, Scilly Islands, is exhibited as part of the loan collection on show at the National Maritime Museum, Falmouth
Janette Watson lives afloat with her husband Paul on their yacht 'Strix II' which is anchored in the Fal estuary in the summer. Such an environment provides inspiration for her illustrations of birds and wildlife. She has exhibited at the Waterside Gallery in St Mawes.
After teaching for some years in Newquay, John Watson set up a gallery in Mevagissey and became a full-time professional painter. He specialises in painting traditional boats in scenes from the estuaries and coasts of Cornwall.
Jack Watson is based in Mousehole. He is a regular exhibitor at the Tyler Gallery in Mousehole.
Born in Plymouth, she studied at the Plymouth School of Art under Fred SHELLEY and later at St Martin's in London, where she met her future husband John Millar WATT. They married in 1923 and moved to Dedham in Essex. She was specialising in flower and landscape painting at this time. When she moved to St Ives in 1935, she took the Chy-an-Chy Studio overlooking the harbour and her five RA exhibits in 1938/9 were all St Ives harbour scenes.
In 1939 the Watts moved briefly to Crediton but returned to St Ives during the War. Shortly after the War they moved to Chelsea and she ceased to exhibit with STISA, but continued her successes at the RA. A photo of the artist is in Tovey (2003) p277, attending a Walker's Gallery Show. J&G have this artist listed as two separate people, exhibiting earlier and later. Tovey mentions success at the Paris Salon, but there is no mention of her in Benezit or Crespon-Halotier, so not referenced here.
Best known as the creator of the character 'Pop', who was featured in a strip cartoon in The Daily Sketch (and subsequently The Daily Graphic) for over 25 years from 1921, he nevertheless took his art seriously and his paintings were well regarded.
Born in Gourock, Clyde, he was educated at Ilford, Essex and at Cass Art Institute before joining the advertising agency Mather and Crowther. In WWI he enlisted in the Army and served as a lieutenant at Vimy Ridge, where he was gassed. Afterwards he continued his art studies at St Martin's and at the Slade in the evenings.
In 1923 he married Amy Maulby WATT nee Biggs and they settled at Dedham, Essex, where he became friendly with Norman GARSTIN. One of his 'Pop' cartoons was included in the STISA 1936 tour, but he restricted his exhibits to landscapes and still lifes. He was elected onto the STISA Committee in 1936 and again in 1937, 40, 41 and 43, and it was he who in 1945 put forward the proposition that the Mariners' Chapel should become the new Gallery for the Society.
Watt had wanted to retire 'Pop' in the late 1930s so that he could concentrate on fine art but the continuance of the comic strip was considered of vital importance to national morale - King George and Winston Churchill were fans - and he was persuaded to carry on. 'Pop' accordingly, like Watt himself, joined the Home Guard. By 1945 over 7,000 cartoons had been published.
After the war he and his wife moved to Chelsea and after her death in 1956 he moved to Lavenham, continuing in commercial and fine art. His advertising work included the famous 'More Hops in Ben Truman' campaign of the 1960s and 70s, and his illustrations featured in magazines such as Reader's Digest, Look and Learn, Everybody's and the Princess comic.
Mary Millar Watt is the living artist-daughter of the late artists Amy Maulby WATT and John Millar WATT. She attended the St Ives School of Art under Leonard FULLER in1939.
After her war work, she attended the Royal Academy Schools from 1947-52, and exhibited widely in major London galleries (as listed below). She was also a member of the Society of Women Artists.
An artist visitor to St Ives, as listed by Marriott, Watts was born in Chatham and trained at the Slade, in Antwerp, Paris, Moscow and Madrid. He was an illustrator for Punch, and killed in a flying accident.
Born on 20 October 1857 at Kislingbury, near Northampton (GRO), the artist was the wife of James Thomas WATTS. She is known to have exhibited a Newlyn title in 1893, in an exhibiting career spanning the period 1880-1914. She died in Liverpool on 28 October, 1914, aged 57 (GRO).
Born on 28 December 1849 in Birmingham (GRO), the artist studied at the Birmingham School of Art. His wife, Louisa Margaret WATTS, was also a landscape painter. Bednar has identified a Newlyn title by the very prolific artist in 1893, though he had been exhibiting from an address in Liverpool since 1880. (Wood, following Graves, says from 1873).
Watts died in Liverpool on 23 October, 1930, age 80. His wife had pre-deceased him by 16 years.
Andrew was born in Bombay, India and grew up there, the first son of Bunny and Bunty Watts. At the age of 7 he was sent back to England where he attended St George's College at Weybridge, Surrey. He completed the pre-Diploma course in Art at Guildford School of Art and studied graphic design in Paris then fine art drawing in Madrid.
Qualifying in advertising and marketing he worked for a number of leading advertising agencies in the 1960s. In the 1970s he left London with his family to settle in Salcombe, Devon, founding the Smokehouse in Dartmouth. In the 1990s he spread his wings and painted full time, exhibiting in France and Palma Mallorca. Since then he has painted widely in France, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Germany and the English West Country. His work is reflected as a Diary of his travels and experiences. He now lives and works in St Buryan near Penzance, Cornwall. (2015)
Born in Bordentown, New Jersey, the artist studied under Thomas Anshutz and Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy (1880-81). He then went to Paris to attend the Académie Julian where he was a student of Bouguereau and Lefebvre, returning to settle in Philadelphia. Prior to moving to England, he sent paintings in to the Paris Salon (1892); for some period in 1894 he painted in the Channel Islands at Sark.
He took up residence in St Ives, Cornwall, and began exhibiting at the Royal Academy, but was living in London by 1899. He contributed a number of illustrations to London periodicals. By 1907 he had returned to live in the United States.
Notified by one of our regular correspondents, one of Waugh's St Ives' paintings of 1907 is being shown on the web (2013) currently:
Frederick Judd Waugh (1861-1940)
Southwesterly Gale, St. Ives
Oil on canvas
1907
Eric Waugh studied at the Croydon School of Art and the Royal College of Art and taught painting at the Reigate School of Art. Nowadays he lives and paints in Cornwall. He has exhibited at the Camel Valley Gallery.
Margaret Way is a founder member of the Cornwall Crafts Association, and exhibited as a working potter at its first show. Since its creation in 1973 she has been tremendously involved in the running of the Association, serving as secretary and treasurer from 1997 to 2002, then as a committee member until 2007.
Born on 24 March 1833, Torquay, Torbay, Devon, the artist studied at South Kensington for six years, and was Director of the Newcastle upon Tyne School of Art for 40 years, appointed with the artist William Scott Bell.
He exhibited a Newlyn title in 1880 at the RA, indicating an early visit. The artist died on 13 March, 1905, age 71, in Newcastle (GRO).
Born into a large and non arty family in Colkirk, Norfolk, Tim was unable to pursue any art education or professional practice until his late maturity (although he says he never really did grow up!). He moved away from East Anglia early in life and settled in Cornwall in 1979.
After careers in Health and Social Care, Tim studied art history at Falmouth College of Art graduating with a Masters in Art & Design: Histories and Theories in 2005. At the same time, he was studying Fine Art at Cornwall College before moving back to University College Falmouth and gaining a BA (Hons) Fine Art in 2007. With his wife, the artist Diana WAYNE, he took on the management of Morvah Schoolhouse, a community art space before spending a year running the Over the Moon gallery in St Agnes. They then moved to Penzance in 2009 and opened The Alverton Gallery, their own enterprise, where they currently have their studio space.
Tim is well known for his stark woodcut bird prints and ceramic figurative pieces but also produces fine expressionist paintings.
With an MA from Falmouth College of Art, Diana and her husband Tim WAYNE own and run the Alverton Gallery in Penzance. They exhibit their own work together with the arts and crafts of other local artists, holding a regular season of openings and exhibitions throughout the year.
Diana exhibited the Installation that she created for her Diploma Show, Finding Dora, as part of the book-related events for the first Penzance Literary Festival (2010). The work was focussed on the life of her grandmother, as found through the re-creation of her diaries, one handmade book for each year of her grandmother's life, arranged in a replica bedroom scene. Beautifully crafted, the setting of Trevelyan House, Chapel Street, Penzance, was an excellent venue for this 'period piece' which found Dora and trailed her through the World Wars, her marriage, and children's lives.
Diana initially studied art as part of her Teacher’s Certificate which she gained from St Gabriel’s Teacher Training College (now part of Goldsmiths) in London. She pursued her career in primary school teaching through to Headships in Inner London and Cornwall. She attended Falmouth College of Art for Foundation Studies 1999 to 2001, then added HND Fine Arts at Cornwall College in 2003 and finished her formal training with a Masters degree in Illustration from University College Falmouth in 2008.
With her husband, Diana took on the management of Morvah Schoolhouse, a community art space before spending a year running the Over the Moon gallery in St Agnes. They then moved to Penzance in 2009 and opened The Alverton Gallery, where they currently have their studio space.
Diana is known equally for her exquisite etchings and screenprints as for her keenly observed paintings of the affection between mother and child rendered in her sparing visual language utilising resist and text.
Born at Walton, near Chertsey, Surrey, Richard Copeland was a son of Edward and Evelyn Mary Weatherby, from the family of administrators and bankers for the Jockey Club of the UK. The name Weatherby is synonymous with horse racing. After education at Horris Hill School and Winchester College, he studied art with Frank Calderon at his School of Animal Painting. Then came studies at Westminster School of Art, St John's Wood Art Schools (1909), and the Royal Academy Schools (1911-12).
Known by his nickname "Seal" since schooldays, he already knew about the Lamorna Colony before leaving the RA and was living there and friendly with Alfred James MUNNINGS and many others when WWI broke out. He served as a Second Lieutenant in the Essex Yeomanry cavalry from soon after he enlisted in August 1914, until he was seriously wounded in the right wrist in early 1917. After hospital treatment he convalesced with Frank Gascoigne HEATH's family and began to resume his artistic career. After taking further instruction under Stanhope FORBES, he developed his own distinctive style of portrait and animal painting in oils, water-colour and crayon.
A lifelong friendship with Frank Nugent, resulted in Seal's holiday in India in 1926 during Nugent's Army service there. The voyage by sea, via the Suez Canal to Bombay and the subsequent rail journey via Belgaum and the Central Provinces of India to Kashmir, where the journey continued by horseback, provided Seal with the opportunity to complete a large portfolio of canvases and sketches of the exotic and extremely colourful images he saw, under the very bright sunlight conditions prevailing in the subcontinent. Back in Cornwall these paintings provided the foundation for an exhibition and sale at the Alpine Club Gallery in 1930. The proceeds were used to finance a pack of hounds and his own house and stables above Mullion Cove, in use by about 1935.
By nature a charming and gregarious person with many female friends, Seal married (1943) in his early sixties, Karenza Boscawen, in her late thirties, at Gulval Church. They lived at Alverton Manor Penzance where they both enjoyed the last ten years of his life in their common pursuits of hunting, gardening and painting. With Seal's health failing in 1950, they relocated near family in Brill, Buckinghamshire.
Following a final solo exhibition at the RBA Gallery (Oct 1952) in London, Seal died from emphysema and heart failure in November 1953. He was cremated at Oxford where his ashes were scattered. Seal Weatherby was of independent means and painted for pleasure.He did not carry out paid commissions, but for his farmer friends, would complete a portrait of a daughter for a year's supply of oats for his horses. Although remembered as friendly and outgoing he was by family trait a very private man, leaving no written records, few letters, but a large number of paintings most of which are in private collections.
One of his best known paintings, which won much critical acclaim, is a large portrait of fellow artist Stanley GARDINER on the quayside at Lamorna Cove. This painting belongs to Penlee House and is frequently exhibited there.
Article prepared by David Bradfield for M Hardie (2009) Artists/Newlyn & West Cornwall.
D. E. or D. G.? Newspaper copy unclear. St Ives Exhibitor. See Dora Elizabeth WEBB
The architect visited Newlyn first as early as 1900, when he purchased two paintings from NAG while staying at the Queens Hotel, a painting by Miss L FLEMMING, An Autumn Evening, and The Little Wood by Lamorna BIRCH.
In 1904, writing from Hanover Terrace, he wrote to thank Stanhope FORBES for sending several of Birch's paintings up to him in London, from which selection he had chosen one, The Brook (?unclear). He commented that his wife was sorry to have missed Mrs FORBES [in London] the previous day, and that he hoped the construction of their house [Higher Faughan] would go on successfully.