The Exceptional Harold Harvey

Penzance-born Harvey was a true ‘son of Cornwall’, and a notable member of the Newlyn School artists’ colony, which flourished from 1880 to 1940. The son of a bank manager, he grew up in Penzance, and after studying under Norman Garstin and a spell in Paris, he settled to a quiet life in Newlyn with fellow artist Gertrude, painting the Cornwall he knew from the inside.

His early genre paintings of rustic and marine life, so characteristic of the first group of Newlyn artists, gradually gave way to a more sophisticated subject matter – Harvey was noted for his sumptuous interiors – and a flatter and more decorative style of painting. His early work might be compared with that of Stanhope Forbes, while his later paintings show clear affinities with those of fellow painters and friends such as Laura Knight and Dod and Ernest Procter.

The subjects that inspired him were those he found on his doorstep: Cornish people at work, children at play and intimate interiors. Many of his contemporaries in Newlyn were visiting ‘observers’, but for Harold Harvey, who rarely left Cornwall although a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy, painting the Cornish world was his whole life.

This exhibition demonstrates that Harvey was the equal of any of his contemporaries in both the first and second generations of Newlyn artists. Including more than sixty examples of his work, representing all stages of his career, this exhibition will delight those who know his work, and astonish and enchant all who are unfamiliar with his remarkable talent.

The Exceptional Harold Harvey will be on display at Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance 1 May - 29 September 2024.