1/6 The Art of Cornwall

• The Art of Cornwall
First broadcast: December 2010.
The art colony of St Ives in Cornwall became as important as Paris or London in the history of modernism during a golden creative period between the 1920s and 1960s. The dramatic lives and works of eight artists, who most made this miracle possible, from Kit Wood and Alfred Wallis to Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, are featured in a documentary which offers an alternative history of the 20th century avant-garde as well as a vivid portrayal of the history and landscapes of Cornwall itself.
Remote and romantic, Cornwall has many qualities but this gorgeous documentary focuses on its role as a colony for the modern art movement, and how a varied set of circumstances brought an extraordinary array of British and European painters and sculptors to its coastline between the 1920s and 1960s. The engaging Cambridge art historian James Fox is convinced that for a time Cornwall was as important a centre of art as London or Paris, helped by artists such as Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, "Kit" Wood, Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon.

[@xyzllii]

Awful music. Hyped up presenter spouting hyperbole...oh my...bring back the calm of older art programs.

[@smokingbrush2498]

A prettily filmed treatment of a photogenic part of Britain. What could possibly go wrong? Sadly, that is as high as this programme aims. It is an example of all that is wrong with current art coverage on British TV. Unexamined hyperbole ["St Ives was as exciting as Paris and New York"-really? Shouldn't Fox have had an editor to make sure such ludicrous comments were tempered with some sense of proportion?] sloshed out by a presenter who places himself at centre stage in front of virtually every shot of the whole programme -the oleaginous Yentob is the same. Fox; if you are trying to make a point about a painting, SHOW US THE PAINTING -not you making your point about that painting! Your comment may be of use; your face most definitely isn't. I would guess that a good 75% of this documentary wasted itself on displaying Fox in all his callow silliness; a performing chimp at the tennis table and the golf course, or prancing like a demented fop down a St Ives street [the faces of the onlooking public said it all], when what the audience should have been seeing is at least 90% artwork and archive material related to the artists in question. Go back to Robert Hughes to see how it is done. He had a massive ego built on a knowledge Fox can not approach, but he knew at all times that he was secondary to his subject matter. As someone else said in a comment about this guy, as a non-practicing minor academic, he has no insights into what makes these works important.

[@lowesonia8551]

What a lot i've learnt about cornwall at 76 yr's of age! It was after watching the exellent Doc Martin series. Why does one go abroad for holidays when there are such ,Gems in Britain,

[@mytinplaterailway]

Amazing how little Art we see, mostly this chap walking about.

[@andrealeobons]

Superb art trolling from Jamie. The first great female sculptor? For real? Was she born before 1864? Sorry, mate, but it seems you have a Camille Claudel in the way of your hyperbole.
I feel like grandpa Simpson yelling at the cloud. But that one... oh boy... I just got art trolled.

[@sonofsmaxx]

This is such a great documentary about Art itself let alone the Art of Cornwall. Thank you for finding and uploading!

[@3felinesstudio]

Alfred Wallis was my great great grandmother's second husband. A very hard life, and the ending that he feared. Thankfully his art lives on. Remembering them both.

[@troonharrison2610]

Viewers might also be interested to learn about the Newlyn School, another artists' colony in the SW of Cornwall, in a period earlier than the abstract movement in St. Ives. It had many fine painters using the style of their time, and Penlee Gallery in Penzance houses an impressive collection. I loved these paintings during my Cornish childhood. For more images of St. Ives, viewers might be interested in the illustrations by Michael Foreman in picture books such as The Sand Horse, The Long Weekend, and Jack's Fantastic Voyage. His son, Mark Foreman, teaches art in Falmouth and illustrated my book Storm Lion of Penzance. Who could be in Cornwall and not wish to paint?!

[@eugenieclements8621]

Oh my goodness thank you for uploading this, you're a star!

[@sawhiminnhalf4956]

what an incredible presentation for the senses

[@colsjoy777]

I have thoroughly enjoyed these six documentaries and have now shared them many other Cornish people in Australia.

[@SpadeMonroe]

I have so much respect for Doctor James Fox. I've learned so much more from his documentaries than I have in my Art History classes.

[@smokingbrush2498]

your art history classes must have been really poor if this sad excuse for an art presentation was a great improvement on them.

[@paulmetdebbie447]

@@smokingbrush2498 hear hear!

[@debra13]

Thank you…:-)

[@taran333tula]

Gladly done…:-)

[@debra13]

:-)

[@sunburnramthem2373]

soaring

[@paulmetdebbie447]

Pretty pompous presentation.

[@iainsanders4775]

'Arrival of the railways' Great for 'artists', not for locals now ousted from their homeland by incomers. Even not so good for the 'artists' - fewer picturesque ethnic models..

[@stimmyoulating1295]

delightful

[@candelariarodriguezbento5966]

Thanks wonderful program.

[@Ikoi-hitotoki]

good!

[@allbushnocraft3031]

upper class on holiday is why it happened

[@amidastouch]

for me this is more informative than watching
DA on pbs

[@palaceofknots]

superb highly recommended