‘Tone, touch, and truth’

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (200) finds that established fine artists exhibited their works amongst many shown at the 1885 painting exhibition. Exploration of their personal backgrounds and artistic endeavours indicates that Bournemouth could attract well-known, well-exhibited artists. Furthermore, it seems that some of these painters also lived for a while in the resort. The press reports of the show indicate that women contributed as well as men, in many cases their works attracting positive comments and praise. The exhibitions in the continuing task of raising the resort’s profile within the country.

Victorian Bournemouth (200): exhibition background

Organisation

The committee to run the 1885 exhibition consisted of six men, at least five Bournemouth residents at the time. The apparent outsider, Frank Suddards, lived in Yorkshire, but had painted landscapes in the Bournemouth area. Two men taught art, part of the National Art Training School (later Royal College of Art), three made a living as painters, the last had a local architectural practice. Many, if not most, had received artistic training, painting from an early age. Suddards, for example, won a gold medal in a national water-colour competition when still sixteen. At least two, William Warren and Arthur Davis, studied at the important school in South Kensington, London. William Hawker grew up in a picture dealer’s home, his siblings including other artists, a novelist, and an architect. For his career he became a photographer. Thus, the committee combined several artistic expressions, much training and substantial experience.

Event

The exhibition started well, a full private viewing; and much interest on the first day. Viewers inspected paintings to a musical accompaniment. The works included both oils and water colours. The medals show that the event incorporated local professional artists, ‘all comers’ or other professionals, and an amateur section. The ‘all comers’ included several established artists working elsewhere in the country. Harry Goodwin, (1842-1925) a landscape artist, who lived in Kent and Devon, had exhibited at important London galleries, for example the Royal Academy of Arts and the Society of British artists. Charles Marshall, (1806-1890), had also exhibited in London, the Royal Academy. Henry Hadfield Cubley (1850-1930), a Midlands artist, painted landscapes, mountainous and countryside. He exhibited at the Royal Academy. For Bournemouth, he brought a pastoral scene depicting Tettenhall Wood, near his home. This received a good mention from the reviewer. The exhibition, therefore, reached far beyond local expertise. 

Victorian Bournemouth (200): medal winners

Local

Three of the four medal winners in the category of local professional painters also formed part of the exhibition’s committee, but the Bournemouth Guardian passed no comment on this. Arthur Davis, who had taken an active role in the show’s organisation, won a silver medal for best landscape, though unnamed. Earlier, the reviewer had referred to the artist’s ‘prolific brush’. ‘It gives us a beautifully soft, mellow river scene, nicely rendered with very pleasing effect’. William Warren also won a silver medal, a marine piece, perhaps ‘Becalmed in Poole Harbour’. ‘The subject is pluckily attacked, effectively executed, and painted with much feeling, atmosphere, and breadth’. Frank Suddards won bronze, perhaps for one of ‘Christchurch Priory’ or ‘Upper Stour’, both of which ‘show good work and admirable promise’. Percy Dixon, (1862-1924), also won a bronze. Dixon had perhaps just arrived in Bournemouth, but would stay many years. 

All comers

Three outsiders won medals, one silver, two bronzes. The former went to Sidney Pike (1858-1923), much exhibited, for his rendering of ‘Christchurch Ferry’, pushing the reviewer into extremes: ‘ … not admitting a single trick of the brush or pallet to seduce him from the path of nature’. The 1891 census recorded Pike and family in Christchurch, but he appears to have lived around London. Bronzes went to Arthur Batt (1848-1911) and Henry Robertson (1848-1930). The reviewer praised Batt’s animals ‘a marvel of tone, touch, and truth’. Batt lived around Southampton and the New Forest. Robertson, an exhibitionist, specialised in views of shores, harbours, and other seascapes. He submitted a view of Poole harbour. The reviewer liked his ‘facile brush’: ‘Indeed, to make so few touches tell so much may almost constitute the point of impudence in art.’ The winning outsiders seem to have submitted pieces painted in the locality.

Victorian Bournemouth (200): assessment

Equal credit for female painters

Artistic expression, at the time, perhaps constituted one of the few areas outside the home, where women might compete on equal terms with men. The 1885 exhibition contained work contributed by several women. In almost every case, the reviewer treated their works with respect. ”Almond Blossom’ by Maria Tuke is a very clever, spirited little study of bright and somewhat original treatment.’ ‘… a delightful portrait by Mrs [Catherine?] Sparkes, as sweet and natural as it is graceful and easy, with quiet colouring and conscientious work’. ‘Mrs [Miss?] Goddard contributes a delightful study in her ‘Peonies’, the flowers are painted with great skill and vigour …’. Blanche Hanbury, however, author of a book Advanced Studies Of Flower Painting In Water Colours, published that year, received a lengthy but somewhat churlish notice. Miss Hancock priced her ‘Autumn Peonies’ at eight guineas. Women took all three medals given to the amateur section.

Marker of civic ambition

Analysis of the medal winners and the contributors, where identified, to Bournemouth’s Fine Art Exhibition of 1885 suggests quick progress had occurred in establishing the town within the country’s artistic culture. This exhibition occurred perhaps half a decade after organised artistic endeavour came to life at Bournemouth. Already by that time, established artists had come to reside in the town. Furthermore, people of similar status, but based elsewhere, in some cases had respected the show’s organisers enough to visit the area and create works featuring the local geography. Poole harbour and ferries over the Stour attracted the attention of several. The exhibitions of the decade consisted of paintings in their hundreds, the shows lasting several weeks. The Pier, the Sanatorium, the recent railway connections had established Bournemouth’s national reputation. Its appetite, rising in the 1880s, for achieving incorporation suggested continuing national ambition. The 1885 exhibition resonated to that civic energy.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (200) has analysed those who participated in the 1885 Exhibition of Fine Arts. Genealogical exploration of medal winners and other participants suggests that the event had a local quotient of painters, but also attracted established artists working elsewhere in the country. Published reviews and the amount of space used indicated that local media respected the event and its participants. As civic ambition pushed the town to join the ranks of chartered boroughs, its cultural appetite sought to connect it into the national network of organised artistic endeavour and recognition.

References

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