Harold Harvey
1874-1941
Born in Penzance, Harvey first studied under Norman Garstin, and then in Paris at the Académie Julian under Constant and Laurens in 1890. After Paris, Harvey settled back to a quiet life in Newlyn and married fellow painter Gertrude Harvey. Initially influenced by Stanhope Forbes and Norman Garstin, he began exhibiting at the the Royal Academy in 1898 showing typical 'Newlyn School' pictures recording the day to day life of the fishing community. He had several well received solo shows in London galleries including the Leicester Galleries and also exhibited regularly at the Newlyn Art Gallery. After the First World War Harvey's style and subject matter changed and he adopted a flatter and more sharply focused technique more akin to the work of his friends, Laura Knight and Dod Procter. He began to favour interior subjects concentrating on the decorative and aesthetic qualities rather than social narrative. Writing in The Studio in 1942, Wallace Nichols suggested that he was the 'truest and sincerest of British painters'. A modest and retiring character, Harold Harvey is now widely recognised as one of the most important Newlyn School artists and examples of his work are held by museums worldwide. In 2001 a major book about his life and work was published by Sansom & Company coinciding with a retrospective exhibition at the Penlee Gallery in Penzance.
Works Available
Little Brother