Walter Langley (1852-1922)

Among the Missing - A Scene in a Cornish Fishing Village

Details

Walter Langley (1852-1922)
Among the Missing - A Scene in a Cornish Fishing Village
signed and dated 'W Langley.1884.' (lower left), signed again and inscribed 'Among the Missing/- A Scene in a Cornish Fishing Village/Walter Langley/Pembroke Lodge/Paul, Penzance' (on a label attached to the backboard)
pencil and watercolour
40½ x 27½ in. (102.8 x 69.9 cm.)

Provenance

W.J. Fieldhouse, 1908.
Thos. Agnew & Sons, Manchester.
H.H. Bolton, Newchurch, Manchester, thence to Mrs. E.H. Bolton.

Literature

The Art Journal, London, 1884, p.318.
Illustrated London News, 3 May 1884.
R. Langley, Walter Langley Pioneer of the Newlyn Art Colony, Bristol, 1997, pp.16, 158, 174 (illustrated).

Exhibited

London, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, 66th Exhibition, 1884, no.275.
Birmingham, Royal Society of Artists, Autumn Exhibition, 1884, no.819.
Birmingham, Museum and Art Gallery, Paintings by Walter Langley, 1886 (not traced).
Paris, Exposition Universalle, 1899 (Gold Medal Winner).
Birmingham, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Retrospective Exhibition, 1889 (not traced).
Burnley, Towneley Hall, Inaugural Exhibition, May-October 1903 (no catalogue published).
Birmingham, Royal Society of Artists, 43rd Spring Exhibition, 1908, no.322.
London, British Fine Art Section, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908 (not traced).
Rome, Royal Commission, International Fine Arts Exhibition, 1911
(not traced).

Lot Essay

Roger Langley (loc. cit.) records that 'In Newlyn, a notice of boats and men lost in the far-off North Sea herring fishery would be put up outside the telegraph station at the old Post Office. This watercolour was shown at the RI in the spring of 1884 where it was proclaimed 'a hit'. It was reproduced in the Illustrated London News, and hinted of as a Chantrey Bequest purchase, though this did not happen'.

The watercolour won the Gold Medal when it was exhibited at Paris in 1899.

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