An American artist, described by Stanhope FORBES at the opening of the Newlyn Art Gallery as having given the local artists a vast amount of useful information and advice on the establishment of the scheme for working in the new Gallery. The exhibition plan hit upon, which they had carried out, ‘was not their own invention; it had been carried out with great success in New York, where a large institution was similarly managed.’ It is clear that the informant was Howard Russell Butler (name mis-spelt as ‘Buller’ in newspaper report).
Butler was the first President and founder of the American Fine Arts Society, and was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1902. Born in New York City, he studied at Princeton and Columbia Universities. In 1882, he graduated from law school at Columbia University and practised in New York City, but was unhappy with that career and turned to the development of his painting talents.
In 1884, he and Frederick E Church opened a studio in Mexico. He then studied at the New York Art Students League, and in Paris and Concarneau (at the same time as Jules BASTIEN-LEPAGE) where he became active in the American artist colony. Focusing primarily on colour and light, he painted in the French countryside in a loose, impressionistic style, and one of his painting companions was John Singer SARGENT.
By 1886, he had arrived in West Cornwall, staying first with Edward Emerson SIMMONS and Vesta S SIMMONS in St Ives, and then found a studio of his own overlooking Porthmeor Beach. He was engaged on a large seascape at the time (which subsequently received an Honourable Mention at the Paris Salon). Butler was keen on outdoor sport, and was a dedicated member of the St Ives side of the Annual Cricket match between Newlyn and St Ives. Leaving in October for a brief return to the States, he then spent time in Paris and Spain before returning to St Ives in 1887.
Born in Bromley, Kent, Alice studied at St Albans School of Art. Her landscape and flower pictures were considered masterpieces of the miniaturist's art, and in 1933 she was living in Malmesbury, where she ran a studio-shop.
Later she moved to Perranporth, Cornwall, joining STISA. At some point (dates and publishers unknown) in the series of postcard designs now known as the CORNISH LITANY POSTCARDS Alice Butler designed at least three, Pisky Place, Polperro, The Lucky Pisky Well, Polperro and the card entitled Moonlight Frolics at Polperro, all reprinted in Meister's book of her collection (2012). One of her postcard designs, Polperro from Chapel Rock, is currently available from the Millston Card Co. Her skill in sketching is evident in all of these.
Together with Mabel Maud DOUGLAS and Mrs L STANTLAND ROBERTS, she formed a miniaturist tradition within STISA. She married her husband, Maurice Bizley, in 1938. In the name of Alice C Bizley she wrote and illustrated The Slate Figures of Cornwall, a significant contribution to Cornish visual and cultural history.
From the 5th of April until 27 October, the Perranzabuloe Museum are featuring her watercolours, sketches and memorabilia, describing her as a dedicated artist and Cornish historian who was an early supporter of Perranzabuloe Museum Trust. The exhibition will be held at Oddfellows Hall, Ponsmere Road, Perranporth (http://www.perranzabuloemuseum.co.uk/).
Born in Islington and trained at the Royal Academy Schools, he came to Polperro with his artist friend Charles BOUTWOOD where they met their future wives, the Pond sisters, Thirza and Sophia.
Herbert and Sophia married in Talland Church, Polperro, in 1892, leaving immediately for Chicago to join Charles and Thirza Boutwood. They returned to England in 1894 with their first child, Alice. The family settled in Watford, where they had two further children, Mary and Jack. They returned to Polperro in c.1898 and had three more daughters, Ruth, Nancy and Catherine. In later life Nancy described their childhood in Polperro as 'idyllic'. In 1907 Butler established a school of painting there, together with his friend Arthur Romilly FEDDEN.
He exhibited at the Royal Academy (1909) and, as well as the large oil paintings so fashionable with the Victorians, he turned more to smaller watercolours after the First World War. He also illustrated a number of books. He continued to paint with enthusiasm right up until his death in 1931.
He produced the one known Polperro war painting, 'The Homecoming', a large oil showing a soldier being welcomed home by his family in their cottage. This was donated to the Rowett Institute, Polperro, but the painting is now on loan to the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro (2022).
Newquay Harbour with Gig, painted in the 1990s by this artist, is an oil painting forming a part of the collection owned by Restormel Borough Council (2007). [Now part of the Cornwall Council Art Collection 2010]
A recent correspondent (2014) had purchased two railway paintings with this signature, in a small shop in Newquay. He reports that the artist ran the shop in Newquay himself, but it is no longer there.
The artist is listed as a member of NSA (2010). Her work has been exhibited at the Rainyday Gallery, Penzance.
Judy Buxton was born in Australia and moved to the UK in the early 1980s. She graduated from Falmouth College of Art with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. After marrying the artist Jeremy ANNEAR, with whom she shares a passion for music, she undertook a three-year postgraduate diploma in painting at the Royal Academy in London. The couple spent a number of years in Australia before returning to Cornwall in 1994 to settle on the Lizard peninsula.
In 1995, Buxton was granted full membership of the NSA, and in the same year became a visiting lecturer in Fine Art at Falmouth College of Art.
She has been a regular exhibitor at the Millennium Gallery in St Ives (now Anima-Mundi) and also at the Campden Gallery in Gloucestershire and the Thackeray Gallery in London. In 2005 she was awarded second place in the prestigious 25th anniversary Hunting Art Prize.
A keen horserider, Buxton breeds and paints horses.
At the 55th Annual Exhibition of the RCPS in Falmouth, this photographic artist received the first Silver Medal ever awarded, for his untouched portrait of the Hon Fred Tollemache.
John Cadle is listed as a regular exhibitor at the Lander Gallery, Truro (2011).
Michael Cadman was born in Epsom, Surrey, the son of a civil servant. He studied at Wimbledon School of Art (1937-1941) then at the Royal College of Art (1941-1944). From 1947 to 1969 he taught at Epsom School of Art and Croydon College of Art, then retired to Cornwall, where he turned to painting full-time.
Cadman exhibited widely in London, and solo exhibitions of his work were held there and also in Surrey and Southampton.
Caffell trained at Camberwell School of Art, where he gained an Honours degree in Ceramics and 3D Design. He creates figurative sculpture (bronze & ceramic), geometric glass installations and hand-thrown pottery.
He has exhibited widely within the UK, and his work is held in private collections in Europe, the USA, South Africa and Australia. Together with his wife, Sally, he runs the Round House and Capstan Gallery in Sennen Cove.
In 2009 Caffell was selected to create a public memorial to Cornish Tin Mining. In June 2015 the large bronze resin sculpture was unveiled at The Old Town Hall in St Just. Subsequently it was placed on permanent display at Geevor.
Paul Cain Smith is based in Millbrook in east Cornwall. His semi-abstract landscapes have a vibrancy which is tremendously appealing.
Mentioned in Whybrow's 1911-20 list of artists in and around St Ives.
Listed in the 1841 Census for Kenwyn, Truro, as a 20 year old Artist living at Ferris Town and born in the County. Wood notes him as a London painter of historical and literary subjects some years later, when he exhibited at RA, BI and elsewhere.
Eddie Callis is a young 'outsider' artist on the autistic spectrum whose work includes landscapes, life drawing, portraits and ceramics. He works from KROWJI Studios, Redruth.
A long-time house painter and decorator with a difference, Callow, honing his considerable skills on life-size buildings in London and elsewhere (including a 2-year stint working on No 10, Downing Street), developed his architectural artistry by turning to landscape, cityscape and fascias in miniature. The miniature fascias are of buildings, barns, houses of international design including Shaker houses, New England and Mid-West American barns, as well as historic Bath frontages (Royal Crescent) and paintings of the Thames landscapes at evening and at dawn.
His pen, charcoal and pencil drawings are free-forms of geometric and technological features which ask complex questions of the viewer.
In 2007, Callow collaborated on the construction and decorative execution of the Dwellings Bookcase, working with the author Melissa HARDIE to create an installation work for the 'Exquisite Trove' exhibition at NAG (July-October, 2010). His studio is located in Redruth, Cornwall.
Calver, born in Kent, trained at St Martins and Winchester Schools of Art. His work has developed out of a concern with the affective and spatial qualities of colour. At first, reductive means were used to obtain a clear minimalist aesthetic. More recently, his work has shown a more complex use of shape and form. These elements have evolved, in a subterranean way, from his regular use of a sketchbook to draw directly from the localities in which he finds himself. In his artist's statement reproduced here he states that this is a practice that sharpens his attentiveness.
In 2003 and 2005 Calver was awarded 'Grants for the Arts' by the Arts Council England, and in 2007 he was in receipt of a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant.
He has exhibited widely in the UK and also in Germany and Dubai. Print, paintings and drawings have been exhibited recently at The Exchange in Penzance and at the artist led Bucca Gallery in Newlyn.
A painter of semi-abstract works on canvas, Susan Camburn works from a studio in Falmouth.
Janie Cameron describes herself as a coastal artist. Her paintings are inspired by her walks on the south west coastal path near her home and studio. A teacher of art and masters level coach, she incorporates mindfulness practice into her art sessions.
She has undertaken courses at the Newlyn School of Art and has studied on the year-long Porthmeor Programme at St Ives School of Painting. In 2023 she joined Prime Women Artists, a supportive and creative network for women artists of all disciplines in Cornwall. Her work has been exhibited in Cornwall and Yorkshire.
Kate Cameron is a painter based in St Ives. In 2022 she joined Taking Space, a group of women artists.
Working in St Ives from 1913-14, Cameron lived with his wife at Ar Lyn, Lelant. Though mentioned in Whybrow as visiting between 1901-10 (implying some time spent in the area) and in the St Ives Times, he is not listed in the usual major listings of artists, so no additional information is available at present.
Famous Victorian photographer and great-aunt of artist Vanessa Stephen BELL and author Virginia Stephen WOOLF. Photographs were taken by Cameron in Cornwall, who also recorded the Stephens family during summers at Talland House, St Ives (and London).
Virginia Woolf later wrote a play Freshwater, based on the bohemian lifestyle of Cameron and friends on the Isle of Wight. Her home, Dimbola, is now maintained by the National Trust in her name.
In the 1891 Census for Halsetown, just outside St Ives, a Mary Lovett Cameron is listed as living at North Terrace (back of), the single head of household, aged 42, an author, born Wavertree, Lancashire. (The artist had arrived in St Ives from Ireland by 1891, a great deal longer an established resident than suspected previously.)
She rented a studio and wrote articles about art, and in 1913 was the author of Umbria, Past & Present. In the summers she sailed to Brittany with the fishermen and rented a studio for the season. Having joined the Arts Club in St Ives, she was successful in getting some recognition for women artists: the rules were amended to provide the exclusive use for ladies on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. In 1918 she was elected the Librarian of the Club, the first woman to hold that office. Mary Lovett CAMERON is one of the signatories of the Glanville Letter (1898).
Mentioned in Whybrow's 1901-10 list of artists in and around St Ives.
Mentioned in Whybrow's 1921-39 list of artists in and around St Ives.
Mentioned in Whybrow's 1901-10 list of artists in and around St Ives.