The artist was born in Leipzig, and studied with Wilhelm Krause in Berlin. In 1856 he went to Paris to continue his studies and exhibited at the Salon. He achieved an Honorable mention in 1861, 1863 and 1889 in the International Exhibition. In 1900 he was awarded a Bronze Medal, and in 1901 he exhibited in Munich.
David Tovey, in viewing a 2005 sale at Sotheby's (Olympia) noted a painting credited to Weber of St Michael's Mount with fishing and sailing schooners in the Mount's harbour. Other known titles of this artist, are Dover Sands (1871) and On the Kentish Coast (1873), and also some continental coastal scenes referred to by Brooke-Hart. Speculatively it is possible that he came along the south coast, painting the views that he found appealing. His presence for an extended period is not established through any literature found as yet.
Martin Webster is a painter who lives in the Mounts Bay area of Cornwall.
The artist was born in Leeds, Yorkshire and studied art there at the Jacob Kramer College of Art, followed by Cardiff College of Art and Reading University (MA). For a decade (1976-86) he worked in London and was one of the founder members of the Chisenhale Studios.
Having done some teaching in Falmouth, he moved to the county in 1987, becoming a Senior Lecturer at the Falmouth College of Art. From Falmouth he exhibits in London and around the country. In 2002 he described his Black Circle Society series of paintings as 'a gathering of voices murmuring, arguing, sharing, interrupting, listening - a constant exchange.'
The artist studied at the Slade School under Poynter and Legros, and exhibited from 1877 at the RA, in the London galleries and elsewhere. Successively his working addresses were London (1880), Winchelsea, Sussex (1900) and Hastings (1910).
However, he was a signatory to the Glanville letter on building development in St Ives in 1898, indicating residence there for some period. He had worked in oils on classical themes until 1897 when he converted solely to watercolour; this may have been the point he reached when arriving in Cornwall.
An artist, author and researcher, Carol Weir was born in Buckinghamshire. After taking an HND in textile design at Bedford College, she moved to Cornwall in 2015 and studied at Cornwall College Camborne. Subsequently she graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) in Contemporary Creative Practice from Plymouth University. In 2018/19 she was awarded the Krowji Graduate Studio Award. In 2021 she obtained a Distinction for her MA in Illustration Authorial Practice at Falmouth University.
Carol is currently based in St Austell. Her work investigates issues surrounding the transience of life, memory and place, using a variety of media and techniques. As artist-in-residence at Wheal Martyn Clay Works, Cornwall's china clay history museum, near St Austell, Carol began an exploration of the Martyn family who founded the china clay pit, and her work continues to focus on the local china clay industry.
Her curatorial projects, both at Wheal Martyn, include Clay Journeys - From Cornwall to the World (2018) and Engineering the Earth (2019).
Linda Weir was born in Manchester and obtained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1982. This was followed by a PGCE in Art Education. She was then awarded an MA in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University. Her many years of teaching experience culminated in positions at the University of Nottingham and Manchester Metropolitan University. She has also studied transactional analysis, counselling and psychosynthesis. Influences include Van Gogh and Picasso, and American literature.
Linda began working in Cornwall from 1978 and settled in St Ives in 2000, where she paints mainly in oils 'en plein air'. Her work has been exhibited widely across the UK. A review of her paintings at the Castlefield Gallery in Manchester drew attention to 'landscapes and domestic interiors into a kaleidoscopic maze of luscious colour. Weir manages to arrange exquisite colours in lovely visual harmonies while avoiding slipping off into the shallow pleasantries of decoration. Her seascapes are particularly spectacular.'
She is a regular exhibitor at STISA open shows.
Born in New York to an American mother and a Scottish father (from Lanark), the artist studied in the US, Germany and England. Her mother was the artist Nina May WEIR-LEWIS, who died and was buried in Lelant, Cornwall just before WWII. Helen had one sister, and the two children were brought to Europe by their mother after their father died.
As an adult, she was permanently based in London but kept Rose Lodge Studio in St Ives and stayed at St Ives Bay Hotel during summers.
Helen worked in clay and bronze, with a particular interest in reflections and textures. She was also an occasional exhibitor of ceramics (Lanhams 1913). At the 1915 Show Day she exhibited a clay model of a rose bowl, which was complimented. Independent financially, Helen was well-liked in St Ives circles and was a good friend of the LANYON family.
In 1933, she took over as Acting President of the Society of Women Artists from Dorothea SHARP.
Living in Cornwall and London, the mother of Helen Stuart WEIR is first referred to in a Review of Show Day 1915; in 1922 mother and daughter held a joint show at Lanham's. She exhibited at a number of the leading London Societies, particularly the ROI and SWA, and had her works Delphiniums in Somerset and A May Morning reproduced as prints. When in St Ives she worked with Helen at Rose Lodge Studio, and contributed to the first STISA show at the Porthmeor Gallery - although she was not as regular a contributer as her daughter was.
Nina May Weir-Lewis was an expatriate American artist. She was born on 11
Aug. 1856 in South Butler, New York, the fourth of six children born to the
Rev. Harlow B. Skeel (1824-1909) and his wife Lucy L. Deuel Skeel
(1824-1905). Her father was a much-beloved minister of the Methodist
Episcopal Church who served as pastor in churches throughout New York State.
Nina was originally named Sarina in honor of a maternal aunt, but she changed
her name in early adulthood. The 1880 Federal Census finds the 23-year-old
Nina in her parents' household in Pulaski, N.Y., giving her occupation as
landscape painter. She also gave painting lessons. In May 1881 the Pulaski
newspaper reported the following:
Miss Nina Skeel, of this village, who has been in New York city during the
winter, will shortly leave for Europe. This talented young lady is an artist
of no little repute, orders for her paintings coming in about as fast as they
can be completed. So far as it is known to us, there is something in Miss
Skeel's career peculiarly encouraging to students generally; for, as we
understand it, very much of her proficiency and success in the art is due to
her own energy and perseverance. We recall a conversation had with the young
lady some years ago in which the desirability of a tour in Europe was brought
forward and lightly discussed. Said she: "It seems a long way off, and a
great undertaking, but others have gone with light purses, and perhaps where
there's a will there's a way." Time has tested the truth of the remark, and
the young lady's friends will rejoice in this fulfillment of her daydream.
["Pulaski Democrat" (Pulaski, N.Y.), Mar. 24, 1881, 3.]
Nina was twice married. In1882 she married John Weir (1856-1892), a native of
Lanark, Scotland, by whom she had two daughters: Frances Underhill
(1883-1932) and Helen Stuart (1885-1969). John Weir was a naturalized U.S.
citizen and a successful grain commission merchant with the firm Weir &
Hallett in New York. As his career prospered, the family moved from New York
to the affluent borough of North Plainfield, N.J. After John Weir's death
from consumption (tuberculosis) Nina married on July 2, 1898 David Lewis
(1835-1901), a widower and cashier of the Ilion National Bank, Ilion,
Herkimer Co., N.Y. Lewis died in Ilion in 1901. Unfortunately, this
short-lived second marriage was not a success. The Utica newspaper reported
in 1907 that "about a year and a half before Mr. Lewis's death his wife, it
is said, left him" ["Utica Herald-Dispatch" (Utica, N.Y.), Dec. 27, 1907].
The 1900 Federal Census listed Nina Lewis in N. Plainfield as head of a
household that included her daughters and a servant, but no Mr. Lewis.
In 1902 and 1906 Nina and her daughters traveled to Europe, spending time in
Germany before settling in England sometime after 1909. (Scandal continued to
dog Nina. In 1907, an attorney in Berlin claimed she absconded, leaving more
than $3,000 in unpaid advances and legal fees. During the subsequent
litigation the court attached Nina's New Jersey home.)
Though Nina began painting at an early age, it was in England that she
embarked on a career as a serious artist. She became associated with the
thriving artist colony at St. Ives in Cornwall. Unfortunately, her paintings
are not judged very highly these days. Nevertheless, what Nina may have
lacked in talent she more than compensated for in dogged determination and a
rare independence of spirit
The artist was also known as H Welch or Harry J Welch. Born in Birmingham, he moved to Cornwall and painted local subjects, dying aged 69 in Sennen.
Robyn Weldon is based in St Mawes. She was a student at Dartington College of Arts before gaining a BA in Fine Art Contemporary Practices at Falmouth University. In 2012 she was Artist in Residence at St George's School in Ascot.
Born in London, Wells was brought up in an artistic community in Ditchling, Sussex,and educated at Epsom College before going to University College Hospital, London, in 1925 to read Medicine. However, as Cross makes clear, he had known Cornwall all his life, his mother being Cornish and coming from St Mary near Padstow. For many years his childhood summers were spent in North Cornwall. In 1927 he began to attend evening classes at St. Martin's School of Art, and on a visit to Cornwall during his summer holidays the following year spent a month studying at Stanhope FORBES' School; during this period he was also introduced to Ben NICHOLSON and Christopher WOOD.
He qualified as a doctor in 1930 and worked in hospitals for six years before moving to St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly where he worked as a GP (1936-45). In 1945 he moved to Newlyn where he took over Stanhope FORBES' Anchor Studio, working there and in the former Infants School (Trewarveneth Studio) which he shared with sculptor Denis MITCHELL, both of which working studios he bequeathed in trust for the future benefit of artists in the area.
As an abstract and modernist painter, he was more attracted to St Ives, and was a founder member of the CRYPT GROUP and the PENWITH SOCIETY. He also worked briefly as an assistant to Barbara HEPWORTH (1950-51). Since his death in 2000 the Borlase SMART-John WELLS Trust has been formed, headed by the Tate Gallery Director, Sir Nicholas Serota, to create a permanent artistic and educational centre in Wells' studios for the use of artists locally. His portrait was painted by fellow artist Ken SYMONDS (See Hardie, section B in the Newlyn Diary).
Born in Bentzen, Germany, and immigrant to Chicago in 1880, Wendt briefly studied at the Art Institute of Chicago whilst employed in a commercial art shop. He made a close friend in the artist Gardner SYMONS, and together they painted in California and Europe, coming to St Ives in 1898.
Though Whybrow mentions his name as having presented a painting 'To my friend, James LANHAM' (as signed on the back of a painting sent on to the RA from an house sale in St Ives), she does not assume he had actually been in the area, although they painted in and around the locality, including Hayle. They returned to the USA fully committed to working in the open air.
He married the American sculptress Julia BRACKEN in 1906 and they moved to Los Angeles. He became the co-founder and the first president of the California Art Club in 1911. Due to his enormous success amongst American artists, and amongst California's best known, he is often referred to as 'The Dean of Southern California.' Both he and Symons were schooled in Impressionism, a style well adapted to the strong, bright colours, atmospheric conditions and special quality of light prevalent in California.
Born in Gera, Germany and surviving an appalling home life, Karl spent more than 60 years in Britain after WWII and his release from prison-of-war camp in 1948. Though he was largely self-taught as an artist, he did spend one term in 1949 at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London.
'Brought to St Ives by Bryan WYNTER in 1955, Karl was a survivor of Germany's Hitler Youth movement (an enforced servitude from which he suffered all his life in black moods of depression). Having been captured after his first parachute jump and kept in a Scottish prisoner of war camp, he made his way to London on release, and was found by Wynter, working in a Soho stonemason's yard.' (Jeremy LE GRICE)
First he lived in the cottages just below the Poor House at Zennor, previously inhabited by D H Lawrence & Frieda von Richtofen, then later near St Just with his long-term friend and second wife Petronilla Silva.
Seb West is a St Ives-born artist with a studio on the outskirts of Nancledra. His work originally focused on painted linocut reliefs, but he has since diversified across a wide range of media and styles.
Emma West lives in Callington, east Cornwall, where she creates ceramics in porcelain.
Exhibited and sold a painting at NAG in 1910. Another artist, A WEST, is later (mid-1920s) listed as a craftworker (unspec) and may or may not be the same person.
West, a local Falmouth boatman, took up painting first as an amateur and later as a professional. His first exhibition was at the RCPS in 1902 in the Amateur Oils section. By 1912 he was described in Lake's Guide as a boatman and artist.
Working and living from a houseboat on the Bar, Falmouth, in 1925, he had two sheds for his boat building and a studio at 7 Minnie Place. His work was sold by local picture dealers, and some he sold himself, signing J H West, or J West. Eight of his paintings were shown at the 150th Anniversary Exhibition at the RCPS in 1983, and all were from private collections.
A recent correspondent (2012) has been able to provide his relevant dates. 'He was born on the 13th September 1856 at Falmouth where he died on the 10th February 1938.'
Oliver's work in landscape art printmaking is what he states is his 'response to landscape, rather than a record of it' (Falmouth AG Exh Cat). A graduate of Falmouth College of Art, he has exhibited throughout the South West and London. He has run Proof Print Arts and organises printmaking workshops for schools and other groups.
Born in York, Hugh West's family moved to Wales when he was six. He became a student at Hereford School of Art & Design, going on to take a diploma in ceramics at Redruth School of Art. In 1971 he established his own pottery in Newquay. After four years he moved to Devon until an opportunity arose in 1982 to spend a number of years in La Borne, Cher, France. Here he acquired an insight into traditional techniques of wood firing still practised in that region.
West returned to Cornwall in 2014, settling in Perranwell near Truro. He has held numerous solo shows in the UK, and collective shows in Europe, Japan, the USA, Saudi Arabia and Korea.
Born at Hertford, England, on 12 October 1781, he was a student at the Royal Academy School when he was selected to be landscape painter on the ship Investigator, under FLINDERS, which sailed from Spithead on 18 July 1801. For two years he made many drawings on the ship's journey, but transferring to the Porpoise was wrecked off the coast of Queensland on a coral reef, to be rescued eight weeks later. He went on to China in the Rolla from there to Bombay, and thence to England in 1805. A few months later he sailed to Madeira and then Jamaica before returning to England, where he at once began exhibiting at the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, and from 1810 with the Old Water-Colour Society.
Flinders' A Voyage to Terra Australis (published 1814) had nine excellent large plates after Westall's drawings, and besides painting in both oil and watercolour Westall did a large number of book illustrations. His Views of Australian Scenery (1814) is, however, merely a reprint of the plates in Flinders's volume. He was elected an ARA. in 1812, but though a fairly frequent exhibitor until towards the end of his life, he never became a full academician. He met with a severe accident in 1847 which greatly affected his health, and he died at London on 22 January 1850. A large collection of his drawings is in the library of the Royal Empire Society, London.