MODEL CITIZENS: FISHERFOLK IMAGERY FROM WEST CORNWALL, 1860-1910 Mary O'Neill A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Oxford Brookes University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Volume 1 of 2 September 2015 Abstract In light of the continued interest in rural artists' colonies in Britain and continental Europe, particularly since 2000, this thesis constitutes a wide- ranging examination of the fisherfolk imagery produced in Newlyn, St Ives and Falmouth within a comprehensive, up-to-date conceptual framework. The investigation analyses the role of selectivity in representations of fishing life in West Cornwall between 1860 and 1910, taking into account the artistic tradition to which such imagery belongs. To address the core question of the paintings' realism, the thesis examines the interplay between pictorial and photographic representations of Cornish fishing populations. It also explores a range of interactions between artists and the local populations who provided their models. The analysis of image content focuses on the material, working and social practices represented, and on the socio-historical contexts in which Cornish works were produced in order to investigate combinations of authenticity and artistic contrivance that characterise rustic naturalist painting. Cornish archive material and maritime expertise have provided the local ethnographic basis for assessing the former. Contemporary local and metropolitan critical reception have been considered as part of an interdisciplinary discussion of national, regional and gender identities to locate the works within a marked nationalist discourse. Given the ethnographic scope of the research, certain Bourdieusian concepts – habitus, hexis, field and capital – are invoked in relation to artists' and local people's practices. A survey of comparable works produced in the Danish colony of Skagen serves to identify common features of fishing and artistic habitus and, crucially, to highlight the specificity of the Cornish works. This thesis posits that artists' representations of Cornwall – broadly synonymous with the label "Newlyn School" despite local and artistic efforts to forge a distinct collective identity as the "Cornish School" – were not only selective, but clearly construct Cornwall's "fisherfolk" as model citizens for national consumption. Contents Page Acknowledgments iii Abbreviations v List of illustrations vii–xxiii Chapter 1: Introduction 1–24 Chapter 2: Nomenclature 25–50 Chapter 3: Business in great waters 51–78 Chapter 4: In a strange country 79–102 Chapter 5: The Cornish cottage interior 103–130 Chapter 6: The Cornish fisherwoman 131–164 Chapter 7: The Cornish fisherman 165–192 Chapter 8: Painting Methodism? 193–220 Chapter 9: Worlds apart – Skagen and West Cornwall 221–250 Chapter 10: Conclusion 251–256 Bibliography 257–278 Appendix I Contemporary artistic activity and Cornish exhibition history 1884-2015 279–290 Appendix II Danish references and translations 291–294 i Appendix III Model Citizens exhibition display notes 295–308 A copy of the exhibition publication Cornwall's "Fisherfolk": Myths & Realities is submitted separately ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME 2 1–155 ii Acknowledgments I am indebted to Professor Christiana Payne, my supervisor, for her invaluable advice, encouragement and support throughout this research project. I would also like to thank Alison Bevan who, as former Director of Penlee House and co-architect of the collaboration between Oxford Brookes University and Penlee House Gallery and Museum, Penzance, provided valuable insights into the art of West Cornwall and introduced me to the joy of exhibition curation. I am extremely grateful to Dr. Peter Forsaith of the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History for his expert recommendations regarding Cornish Methodism. I also wish to thank Dr. Matthew Craske for his helpful suggestions. I extend my warmest thanks to the many people who have been generous with their knowledge and time, and for their interest in this research: In Cornwall the staff of Penlee House, especially Katie Herbert (Curator), and Louise Connell (Director); Dr. Melissa Hardie-Budden and Phil Budden of the Hypatia Trust, Penzance; the Penlee House Photographic Research Group, especially Liz Harman, Tony Pawlyn, John McWilliams (also of the St Ives Archive), and Charles Symons; the staff of the Cornish Studies Library, Redruth; Veronica Chesher and Dawn Walker, Penwith Local History Group; Glyn Richards and the staff of the Morrab Library; John Wallis; Dr. Pamela Lomax, Newlyn Archive; Angela Broome, Courtney Library, RIC, Truro; Margaret Morgan and Sarah Lloyd-Durrant, RCM, Truro; Katherine Ashton and Tracy Clowes, Helston Museum; Dr. Deborah Sugg Ryan, Falmouth University; Sandra Kyne, Gibsons of Scilly; Brian Stevens, St Ives Museum; Alex Hooper, Falmouth Art Gallery and Mrs. Sylvia Pender Johns, Mousehole. Beyond Cornwall Katie Hambrook, Art History Librarian, Oxford Brookes University; David Tovey; Dr. Juliet McMaster; Dr. Pamela Gerrish-Nunn; the staff at the Hyman Kreitman Reading Rooms, Tate Britain and the Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of Art; Dr. Roo Gunzi; Dr. Virginia Walker; Dr. Fiona Mann; Melanie Bashor and Dianne Bashor; Lise Wulff; Dr. Jan Cox; Dr. Dermot McCann; Dr. Dorren McMahon; Dr. Marian Keyes; Dr. Dan Farrelly; Dr. Éimear O'Connor; Dr. Julian Campbell; Mette Bøgh-Jensen, Skagensmuseum, Denmark; Flemming Hjorth; Peter Murray, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork and Terri Kearney, Skibbereen Heritage Centre. I wish to acknowledge the support I have received from the Arts & Humanities Research Council and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art (for research carried out in Denmark), as well as Penlee House Gallery and Museum, and Oxford Brookes University. Finally, I thank Dermot and Muireann for their unstinting support throughout. iii iv Abbreviations A.G. Art Gallery AJ Art Journal CFA Caroline Fox Archive, Penlee House GWR Great Western Railway Company JBCS J.B. Cornish Scrapbooks, Morrab Library JF Juliette Forbes MoA Magazine of Art n.d. not dated NEAC New English Art Club NMMC National Maritime Museum Cornwall (Falmouth) PCS Percy Craft Scrapbook, Penlee House RA Royal Academy; Royal Academician RCG Royal Cornwall Gazette RCM Royal Cornwall Museum RIC Royal Institute of Cornwall SFPC Stanhope Forbes's Press Cuttings Scrapbook, Penlee House TGA Tate Gallery Archive WCAA West Cornwall Art Archive v vi List of illustrations Chapter 1: Introduction Fig.1.1 Walter Langley, Cornish Fisherfolk (1908), oil on canvas,76.5 x 56 cm (Penlee House).* Fig.1.2 Stanhope Forbes, The Pier Head (1910), oil on canvas, 123.5 x 149.5 cm (Geelong, Australia). Fig.1.3 Lewis Harding, Polperro Fishermen, detail (c.1860s-1870s), sepia photographs (Courtney Library, RIC, Truro). Fig.1.4 Stanhope Forbes, A Son of the Sea (c.1909), colour plate illustration in Mary R. Mitford's Sketches of English Life and Character (Private Coll.). Fig.1.5 George Sherwood Hunter, Fishermen, Newlyn, Cornwall (n.d.), oil on canvas, 12 x 21 cm (University of Hull Art Collection). Fig.1.6 Unknown, Forbes painting The Old Pier Steps at Mousehole (c.1910-1), b&w photograph (Watts Gallery, Compton, Surrey). *Penlee House, Penzance Chapter 2: Nomenclature Fig.2.1 W. Christian Symons, Newlyn Fishwives (1886), coloured etching (Penlee House). Fig.2.2 Stanhope Forbes, The Health of the Bride (1889), oil on canvas, 152.4 x 200cm (Tate). Chapter 3: Business in great waters Fig.3.1 Louis Grier, Among the Seine Boats, St Ives (1886), oil on canvas, 61 x 91.4 cm (Private Coll.). Fig.3.2 Unknown, The Herring Fleet Departs, St Ives (n.d.), b&w photograph (St Ives Museum). Fig.3.3 Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, Penzance boats leaving Whitby (c.1887), b&w photograph (Private Coll.). Fig.3.4 Unknown, Newlyn Fleet and landed catch (c.1880), b&w photograph (Morrab Library, Penzance). vii Fig.3.5 Stanhope Forbes, A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach (1885), oil on canvas, 121 x 155 cm (Plymouth City A.G.). Fig.3.6 Gibson, Landing the catch at Newlyn (c.1880), b&w photograph (RCM, Truro). Fig.3.7 Harold Harvey, Unloading the Boats (1906), oil on canvas, 30.5 x 46 cm (Private Coll.). Fig.3.8 Walter Langley, Departure of the Fleet for the North (1886), watercolour, 61 x 122 cm (Penlee House). Fig.3.9 Charles Napier Hemy, The Trawler (1879), oil on canvas, 68.5 x 91.5 cm (Private Coll.). Fig.3.10 Charles Napier Hemy, Daybreak at Sea (1890), oil on canvas, 91 x 121.5 cm (Worcester). Fig.3.11 Allan Hook, Sennen Crabbers (1886), oil on canvas, 77 x 104.5 cm (National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Falmouth). Fig.3.12 Charles Napier Hemy, Fishermen Hauling a Rope (n.d.), bodycolour, crayon on paper, 35.6 x 25.4 cm (Laing A.G., Newcastle). Fig.3.13 Charles Napier Hemy, Along Shore Fishermen (1890), oil on canvas, 56 x 76.2 cm (Falmouth A.G.). Fig.3.14 Charles Napier Hemy, Hauling the Trammel Net (1892), oil on canvas, 82.5 x 123 cm (Private Coll.). Fig.3.15 Stanhope Forbes, Off to the Fishing Grounds (1886), oil on canvas, 119.5 x 156 cm (Walker A.G., Liverpool). Fig.3.16 Henry Scott Tuke, The Fisherman (1888-89), oil on canvas,116.8 x 198.1 cm (Nottingham Castle Museum & A.G.). Fig.3.17 Harold Harvey, In the Whiting Ground (c.1900), oil on canvas, 61 x 76 cm (Penlee House). Fig.3.18 Harold Harvey, Whiffing for Mackerel (1908), oil on canvas, 29 x 34 cm (Private Coll.). Fig.3.19 Stanhope Forbes, Newlyn, Cornwall (1906), oil on canvas, 123 x 97 cm (Ferens A.G., Hull). Fig.3.20 Percy Craft, The Huer (1884), illustration from Whymper's The Fisheries of the World, Cassell & Co. Fig.3.21 William Wainwright, Mackerel in the Bay (1884), watercolour, 117 x 67 cm (Private Coll.). viii Fig.3.22 Charles Mottram, St Ives Bay (1906), oil on canvas (Private Coll.). Fig.3.23 Charles Napier Hemy, How We Caught the Pilchards (1885), watercolour, 135.9 x 78.8 cm (Walker A.G., Liverpool).