Thomas Herbert VICTOR
Thomas Herbert Victor was born on 6th September 1894, the son of Benjamin and Edith Victor of Mousehole, his father being the village shoemaker. By 1911 he is recorded as an art student.
Having shown exceptional artistic promise at school, on leaving, Victor went to art school in Penzance and was granted a scholarship from the first term there. Further scholarships were offered him to study at the Slade School and other famous establishments.
He would not leave Mousehole, however, and never travelled further than Truro during his lifetime. Nevertheless, his artistic abilities flourished and his watercolour paintings of the harbours and streets of all the local fishing villages are, apart from their artistic merit, of great historic value as a record of Mousehole, Newlyn, St Ives and the Lizard Peninsula as they were a hundred years ago. He also painted views of Clovelly. The compiler's mother can remember Victor carrying around a book of watercolour sketches as a sample to show prospective clients. A family member, when visiting from America, commissioned him to paint views of Mousehole and Newlyn where she grew up, and these were forwarded to her in America. Some of his small watercolours have been made into postcards. He also produced a series of postcards from his own local pen and ink views.
Many of his works were produced for the Morrab Gallery in Penzance. He also produced works under the pseudonym, W Sands and it is understood that as he was under a contractable obligation for his works as T H Victor he was able to circumvent that obligation by signing a proportion of his works under the pseudonym.
During the 1960s he had a shop in Mousehole. He died on 10th March 1980.
media
Painter in watercolour of landscapes and harbours
works and access
Works include: Panoramic view of Mousehole Harbour; Mousehole Harbour and Mount's Bay; Kynance cove - the Lizard; Lower Quarter Ludgvan, Nr Penzance (1918); Near Porthcurnow (1912); St Ives Harbour
Access to work: Penlee House, Penzance
exhibitions
memberships
misc further info
references
Barnes Thomas Auction catalogue (2010) Tony Sanders, Pz Gallery & antiques
Census returns 1901, 1911
GRO Index
Morrab Studio, Penzance
Hardie (2009) Artists in Newlyn and West Cornwall (p290)
RCPS exhibition records
WH LANE Sales catalogue
Jeremy Wood (1994) Hidden Talents, A Dictionary of Neglected Artists 1880 - 1950;