Creating A Splash - The St. Ives Society of Artists 1927-52 - David Tovey

This is the dramatic story whereby the Society transformed the St Ives art colony from being moribund in 1927 into a run-away success, with over seventy works a year by members being hung at the Royal Academy and regular nationwide touring shows attracting up to 75,000 visitors. By the end of the 1930s, most artists of repute, who had at some juncture lived, worked or studied in Cornwall, had joined the Society and, during the period covered by the talk, it boasted fourteen Royal Academicians amongst its membership. After the War, the Society welcomed artists with modern leanings, such as Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, but this in time led to a major and very acrimonious split in 1949. Nevertheless, the Society continued to be successful until representational art went out of fashion. The lecture features many of the exhibits from the nationwide touring exhibition, Creating A Splash, which attracted over 80,000 visitors during 2003-4. Artists featured include the Royal Academicians Julius Olsson, Arnesby Brown, Terrick Williams, Adrian Stokes, Algernon Talmage, Stanhope Forbes, Laura Knight, Dod Procter, Stanley Spencer and Frank Brangwyn.