.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Harold Harvey was one of the few Cornish-born artists associated with the Newlyn School and its affiliations. The school, founded by Stanhope Forbes and his wife Elizabeth in 1899, sought to inject British painting with a healthy dose of the French plein-air tradition. The artists painted real-life subjects with a focus on 'drawing, atmosphere and truth of local colour' (Magazine of Art) rather than narrative or symbolic content.
Harvey was the son of a bank manager and grew up in Penzance, witnessing its role as a developing center of artistic innovation. He studied under Norman Garstin before travelling to Paris and completing his training at the Academie Julian. He returned to Cornwall and in 1912 moved to Maen Cottage in Newlyn with his new wife Gertrude Bodinnar.
Young Sailors shows Harvey working with Newlyn ideas in mind: the brushwork is deft and spontaneous, the effect impressionistic rather than solid. As his style developed Harey's compositions became more stylised and his figures more sculptural. The present picture probably predates this stylistic change which occurred around 1916.
In the early years of the twentieth century, Harvey felt comfortable in responding to the new social phenomenon of tourism which was becoming fashionable in Cornwall. The heroic fisherfolk of the early Newlyn years would, by 1905, be more often seen taking visitors on pleasure cruises. Harvey's subjects are observed in a rowing boat 'whiffing' (fishing with a hook and line) on a calm day in the harbour; his lads are 'local "sons of the sea", dabbling in the friendly waters of a familiar bay.' (see K. McConkey, Harold Harvey Painter of Cornwall, Penzance, 2001, p. 19). Harvey's images of young, healthy fisherboys became symbolic of the typical English seaside holiday.
Harvey was the son of a bank manager and grew up in Penzance, witnessing its role as a developing center of artistic innovation. He studied under Norman Garstin before travelling to Paris and completing his training at the Academie Julian. He returned to Cornwall and in 1912 moved to Maen Cottage in Newlyn with his new wife Gertrude Bodinnar.
Young Sailors shows Harvey working with Newlyn ideas in mind: the brushwork is deft and spontaneous, the effect impressionistic rather than solid. As his style developed Harey's compositions became more stylised and his figures more sculptural. The present picture probably predates this stylistic change which occurred around 1916.
In the early years of the twentieth century, Harvey felt comfortable in responding to the new social phenomenon of tourism which was becoming fashionable in Cornwall. The heroic fisherfolk of the early Newlyn years would, by 1905, be more often seen taking visitors on pleasure cruises. Harvey's subjects are observed in a rowing boat 'whiffing' (fishing with a hook and line) on a calm day in the harbour; his lads are 'local "sons of the sea", dabbling in the friendly waters of a familiar bay.' (see K. McConkey, Harold Harvey Painter of Cornwall, Penzance, 2001, p. 19). Harvey's images of young, healthy fisherboys became symbolic of the typical English seaside holiday.