Cornish Holiday
This charming and vibrant painting is typical of the work of Dorothea Sharp who was strongly associated with the artists’ colony in St Ives in the 1920s.
Dorothea Sharp was born in Kent and studied at Regent Street Polytechnic school in London under Sir David Murray and en plein air (painting outdoors) painter George Clausen, before going on to study in Paris where she was influenced by the work of the French impressionists and discovered the work of Monet. The latter greatly influenced her handling of subjects and colour in impressionist fashion such as her handling of light. Upon her return to London, she became actively involved in the Society of Women Artists in London, exhibiting with them from 1902.
Sharp started visiting St Ives in the 1920s and became renowned for joyful images of children, often at the beach. In 1928, she was elected an honorary member of the St Ives Society of Artists, and in the late 1930s she settled in the artist colony for several years. Deeply immersed in artistic life there, she showed with such well-known artists as Laura Knight, Alfred Munnings and Stanhope Forbes.
This work was purchased by the Russell-Cotes from the artist in 1936 for the modest sum of £30.
