The Artist's New Forest 1750 - 1950
Part 1: Introduction
Since the 18th century artists have travelled the country seeking inspiration, but the New Forest has proved something of an acquired taste. Its unique landscape has been moulded by human activity and intervention across thousands of years, but it retains a wildness which, while a major part of its appeal today, has not always been appreciated as a suitable subject for art.
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| Gypsy Encampment in The New Forest, oil on canvas (courtesy Hampshire County Council Museums Service). |
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The Forest first came to the attention of artists in the 18th century, first through topographical and antiquarian paintings and prints and then with the picturesque movement, largely inspired by the writings of William Gilpin (1724 - 1804), Vicar of Boldre. The early 19th century saw a brief visit from John Constable during a stay at Salisbury but it was not until the second half of the century that the first notable New Forest artist appears: William Shayer senior. Shayer's paintings of jolly rustics in the lanes and villages of the Forest proved popular with Victorian tastes and certainly continued the process of popularising the Forest as a subject for artists.
As the century wore a number of resident artists began to make a name for themselves with the portrayal of the Forest and its animals. These included Arthur Batt, John Emms and Arthur H. Davis. But of all the resident artists it Frederick Golden Short who most successfully captured the New Forest in all its light and moods across the seasons. In the world of animal painting Lucy Kemp-Welch, another artist with New Forest connections, went on to become one of the most highly regarded animal painters this country has ever produced.
The twentieth century saw the blossoming of a more individual approach with many different artists visiting or moving to the Forest to explore a range of subjects. These included Arts and Crafts-inspired artists like Heywood Sumner and Maxwell Armfield, printmakers like Hesketh Hubbard and Allen William Seaby and illustrators such as Wilfrid Ball and Walter Tyndale. More personal and esoteric visions of the landscape were provided by Sven Berlin and Richard Eurich.
The Forest's place in the history of British landscape art has often been as a microcosm of wider developments, but on occasion, in the hands of Gilpin, Shayer or Kemp-Welch, it has found its way into the national consciousness. The New Forest has attributes which have always appealed to British artists and it is a landscape that continues to inspire today. If it remains something of an enigma in artistic terms, there is little doubt that its appeal to the creative eye will endure for many years to come.
Next: Wilfrid William Ball (1853 - 1917)
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Wilfrid William Ball (1853 - 1917)
Part 3: Mary Berridge (exhibiting 1921 - 1933)
Part 4: Walter Crane (1845 - 1915)
Part 5: Anthony Thomas Devis (1729 - 1816)
Part 6: John Emms (1843 - 1912)
Part 7: Sydney Paul Goodwin (1867 - 1944)
Part 8: John Hassell (1767 - 1825)
Part 9: Eric Hesketh Hubbard (1892 - 1957)
Part 10: Lucy Kemp-Welch (1869 - 1958)
Part 11: Albert George Petherbridge (1882 - c.1934)
Part 12: David Charles Read (1790 - 1851)
Part 13: Thomas Rowlandson (1756 - 1827)
Part 14: William Shayer Senior (1787 - 1879)
Part 15: Frederick Golden Short (1863 - 1936)
Part 16: Heywood Sumner (1853 - 1940)
Part 17: Christine Maud Wells (1885 - 1969)
© St. Barbe Museum & Art Gallery 2002. Copyright notice
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