Newlyn School facts for kids

Walter Langley, Between The Tides, 1901

The Newlyn School was a group of artists who lived and worked in or near Newlyn, a small fishing village in Cornwall, England. This art group was active from the 1880s into the early 1900s. These artists loved painting everyday life, especially scenes of fishermen and their families.

The idea of artists gathering in one place, like the Newlyn School, was similar to the Barbizon School in France. Artists there left the busy city of Paris to paint in nature. Both groups, along with a similar movement in California, were known for painting En plein air, which means painting outdoors directly from what you see.

Why Artists Came to Newlyn

Some of the first British artists who settled in Newlyn had already painted in Brittany, France. They found Newlyn to be a lot like Brittany, but right here in England! Newlyn offered many things that attracted them:

• Fantastic natural light, perfect for painting outdoors.
• Cheap living costs, making it easy for artists to stay there.
• Lots of people available to be models for their paintings.

The artists were very interested in the lives of the local fishermen. They painted scenes of their hard work at sea and the daily activities in the harbour and nearby villages. Some paintings even showed the dangers and sad moments of this community's life. For example, you might see women anxiously watching the sea as boats went out. Or a young woman crying after hearing bad news about a disaster.

Walter Langley is often seen as the first artist to start the Newlyn art colony. Stanhope Forbes, who moved there in 1884, is known as the "father" of the group.

The Forbes School of Painting

Later, in 1899, Stanhope Forbes and his wife, Elizabeth Forbes, started the Forbes School of Painting. This school helped students learn how to paint people. Today, a new art school called the Newlyn School of Art was created in 2011. It offers art classes taught by many famous artists working in Cornwall.

Lamorna Village

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, another nearby fishing village called Lamorna also became popular with Newlyn School artists. The artist S. J. "Lamorna" Birch, who lived there from 1908, is especially connected to this village.

Newlyn School Artists

Here are some of the artists who were part of the Newlyn School:

You can find a full list of artists in the book Every Corner was a Picture by George Bednar.

See also

• Staithes group