ST IVES

The St Ives artists were a loose group of artists working in Cornwall from the late 1930’s to the 1970’s, during this time they were considered to be the avant-garde of British art. They took the concept of abstraction into many new areas. Now they are internationally renowned and considered to be among the great painters of the 20th century. When Nicholson and Wood went to Cornwall on a painting trip in the 1920s they were following an all ready established tradition, many painters (Turner,Sickert etc) had gone there to experience the light, atmosphere and landscapes, and the Newlyn School had already become an important part of English art history. This new generation of painters, that began to establish themselves in the 30s and 40s brought with them a new modernism from Europe, following on from Cubism and Constructivism, this combined with the naïve style of folk art of Alfred Wallis ( a Cornish fisherman ) produced a unique modern style now known as ‘St Ives’.


As London became isolated during WW11 the St Ives community flourished, by the 1950s a second generation had continued to develop this unique English abstract style, and they began to gain attention around the world, comparisons to the New York school( a subject of much discussion) helped to bring their work to a wider audience.

By the 1960s the attention of the art world was drawn else where, but the legacy of the St Ives style remains and can be recognised in British abstract painting today.