02
Apr
to 18 Jun
Polperro – Cornwall’s Forgotten Art Centre
In the late nineteenth and for much of the twentieth centuries, Polperro was considered one of Cornwall’s leading art centres, attracting, particularly during the spring, summer and autumn, numerous artists, who were captivated by its myriad charms. Whilst described as ‘the haunt of half of the artists in Britain’, it is the fact that it became the Cornish destination of choice for a number of significant international artists that is of particular importance. Yet the visitor to Polperro today will come away completely unaware of its artistic heritage.
This exhibition, curated by leading Cornish Art Historian, David Tovey, will be the first ever devoted to Polperro artists, and will be accompanied by his two volume history of the village as an arts centre. It will feature paintings, drawn from public and private collections, by leading American, German and Dutch artists, as well as by many accomplished British ones – some familiar, others less so. It will provide a fascinating overview of how Polperro developed not only as an art centre but also as a fishing port supporting two pilchard factories.