Tom EARLY

T E C EARLY
Tom
1914
1967

By profession a medical doctor, Early was first spotted as a promising talent by Ben NICHOLSON in 1946. Befriended by sculptor Denis MITCHELL, he proceeded to begin showing his work together with him in the next three years. The chronology revealed in the Tate's publication St Ives 1939-64 gives the main progress of his exhibiting life in Cornwall. He was said to be a 'natural primitive' painter, with rich, colourful application.

In 1952 he returned to medicine full-time, becoming the registrar of the Derby Mental Hospital. With the Derby Group, he exhibited in 1961 at the Derby Art Gallery. His final solo show was at the Midland Group Gallery in 1965 (Buckman).

His wife Eunice Campbell Early published his biography in 1994, The Magic Shuttle - The Story of Tom Early, St Ives and after.

media

Painter

works and access

Falmouth Art Gallery

exhibitions

Castle Inn, St Ives (with Denis Mitchell) 1947, 1948

Downing's Bookshop 1949

Heal's Mansard Gallery, St Ives January - February 1951

Derby Group, Midland Group

The Book Gallery, St Ives 1994

Belgrave Gallery, London Memorial Exhibition 1994

2012: 'Effortless Brushstrokes', Falmouth Art Gallery 11 Feb - 14 Apr

2012: 'Soaring Spirits', Falmouth Art Gallery 23 June - 8 Sept

2017: Two Poetic Painters (Tom Early & Patrick Hayman), Belgrave St Ives (13 Nov-2 Dec)

2024: Truro School Art Collection, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro (30 Jan-18 May)

 

memberships

Penwith Society of Arts 1949-52

Derby Group

references

Biography

Campbell Early (1994) The Magic Shuttle - The Story of Tom Early, St Ives and after

General

Buckman (2006) Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945

Tate (1985) St Ives 1939-64, Twenty Five Years of Painting, Sculpture and Pottery