Images Dated 2019 November

The Leats, Truro, Cornwall. Around 1920

A view of The Leats from the west side of Castle Street looking towards the Cathedral. The United Methodist Chapel (Sunday School section) can be seen on the right hand side. Photographer: Arthur William Jordan

© From the collection of the RIC

City, Cornish, People, Street, Streetscene, View

Monday, Bryan Pearce (1929-2007)

Oil on board, 1959. Bryan Pearce was born in St Ives in 1929 and suffered from the then unknown condition Phenylketonuria, which affects the normal development of the brain. Encouraged by his mother, the painter Mary Pearce, and then by other St Ives artists, he began drawing and painting in watercolours in 1953. His regular walks around St Ives, where he lived all his life, have been the inspiration for his subject matter, unconsciously recording the town's subtle changes. In this synthesis of imagination and reality, Pearce paints the world as he commands it; a sanctuary with an ever-present sun, bathing the streets and houses in the subtlest of colour harmonies. He worked slowly, but consistently, producing around twelve oil paintings a year. Often compared to Alfred Wallis, the late Peter Lanyon said of him: Because his sources are not seen with a passive eye, but are truly happenings, his painting is original'. His particular experiences of his hometown were captured with unique clarity. Pearce's artistic developments, his simple renditions of space, colour and light, evolve from a sophisticated understanding of composition. He had a career which spanned over fifty years, his paintings seem to evoke a serene sense of place, which seems at once personal yet archetypal. He is now recognised as one of the country's foremost naive painters, through the re-examination of familiar views and landmarks, Pearce offers us his profound, extraordinary experience of St Ives

© RIC

Distant view of Tregothnan, St Michael Penkivel, Cornwall. Date unknown but probably early 1900s

A distant view of Tregothnan, across the fields from the River Fal. Tregothnan has been home to the Boscawen family since 1334. The house was rebuilt by Edward Boscawen (1787-1841), fourth Viscount and First Earl of Falmouth, near the site of an older mansion. Tregothnan has the largest historic garden in Cornwall. It is open to the public for one weekend every year. Photographer: Arthur William Jordan

© From the collection of the RIC