Norman Garstin - It Raineth Every Day 1889

Norman Garstin (28 August 1847 – 22 June 1926) was an Irish artist, teacher, art critic and journalist associated with the Newlyn School of painters. After completing his studies in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and Paris, Garstin travelled around Europe and painted some of his first professional paintings while on the journey. He later took students to Europe to some of his favourite places. Garstin painted ''

plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting is c ...

'' and was influenced by

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

, Japanese works and

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

. Some of his works are at

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

and Penlee House. Garstin was a founding member of the

Newlyn Art Gallery Newlyn Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Newlyn, Cornwall, UK. Opened in 1895, designed by James Hicks of Redruth and financed by John Passmore Edwards the gallery was conceived as a home and exhibition venue for the Newlyn ...

. His daughter, Alethea, was also a Newlyn School artist.

Personal life

He was born 28 August 1847 in Caherconlish,

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

, Ireland to Captain William Garstin and Mary Moore Garstin. He was raised by aunts and grandparents following his father's suicide and his mother's incapacitating disabilities.''Norman Garstin''.
Cornwall Artists. Retrieved 5 October 2012. - dead link Garstin attended Victoria College on the island of

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

and then he worked in architecture and engineering for brief periods. He then travelled to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

where he befriended

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes ( ; 5 July 185326 March 1902) was an English-South African mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded th ...

, worked as a journalist and was involved in government in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. Pursuing an interest in art, Garstin trained in 1880 in

at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

. From 1882 to 1884 he studied in Paris at an academy founded by

Carolus-Duran Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran (4 July 1837 – 17 February 1917), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of Upper class, high society in French Third Republic, Third Rep ...

. He then travelled and painted his way through Spain,

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Italy. In 1886, he married Louisa Jones, also known as Dochie. Many of Garstin's friends from school in Antwerp had settled in Newlyn; Garstin and Dochie moved to Mount Vernon in Newlyn by 1886. They had three children: Crosbie, Denis and Alethea. The boys took up journalism and Alethea became an artist. The family moved to

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

by 1895. On 22 June 1926, Garstin died in

Career

Garstin worked as a painter, teacher, art critic and journalist. As printed in ''100 Years in Newlyn'', Norman Garstin was:

He was a man of intensely individual impulses and opinions, and incurred unpopularity at times through his views on war and other topics. But he was a stimulating teacher and a shrewd critic, and had a true eye for a picture with old architecture and historic atmosphere, as well as a brush capable of rendering his intentions with right effect.

In 1888 he became a member of the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) is a society for contemporary artists that was founded in London, England, in 1886 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. The NEAC holds an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries ...

(NEAC). Garstin became a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists (NSA) and was on the Newlyn Art Gallery's Provisional Committee for its opening in 1895. Garstin said of the

plein-air ''En plein air'' (; French language, French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein ai ...

approach used by St Ives and Newlyn artists: They were "filled with this idea of a fresh unarranged nature to be studied in her fields, and by her streams, and on the margin of her great seas – in these things they were to find the motives of their art."Andrew Causey.
Peter Lanyon: Modernism and the Land
'. Reaktion Books; 2006. . p. 14. He was a teacher and took groups to "his favorite painting haunts on the Continent." For instance, Frances Hodgkins, a New Zealand artist, attended Garstin's 1901 and 1902 summer sketching classes in France. He taught Harold Harvey, the only Cornish Newlyn School painter, and his daughter, Alethea.

Works

His work consisted primarily of small oil panels in the ''

'' style, something he had picked up from the French

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...

, like Manet. He was also fascinated by Japanese prints and admired the work of the American painter

.Professor Kenneth McConkey.
Impressionism in Britain
'. Yale University Press; 20 March 1995. . p. 129. One of his best and most famous works is his 1889 painting ''The Rain, it raineth every day'' of the Penzance promenade. The title of the work comes from Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' and ''Twelfth Night.'' "The composition of this painting demonstrates Garstin's admiration for Japanese art," says Penlee House. A partial list of his works includes:''Norman Garstin.''
an

Penlee House. Retrieved 5 October 2012. * ''Crosbie Garstin as a Baby,'' 1887, oil on canvas, Penlee House, loan from Newlyn Art Gallery * ''In a Cottage by the Sea,'' 1887, oil on canvas, Penlee House, loan from Newlyn Art Gallery * ''The Drinking Pool,'' 1887, watercolour * ''The Rain, it raineth every day'', 1889, oil on canvas * ''A View of Newlyn from the North Pier,'' c. 1892, oil on canvas, Penlee House, loan from Newlyn Art Gallery * ''Houses and Boats'', oil on panel, Penlee House, loan from Newlyn Art Gallery * ''Market Jew Street'', oil on panel, Penlee House, loan from Newlyn Art Gallery * ''Saturday (an Interior View of Garstin's Home)'', oil on panel, Penlee House, loan from Newlyn Art Gallery

Gallery

File:Norman Garstin - Autumn 1882.jpg, ''Autumn'', 1882, oil on canvas File:Norman Garstin - Artichokes Hyeres 1883.jpg, ''Artichokes Hyeres'', 1883, oil on panel File:Norman Garstin - Haycocks And Sun 1886.jpg, ''Haycocks And Sun'', 1886, oil on wood File:Norman Garstin - In A Cottage 1887.jpg, ''In a Cottage,'' 1887, oil on canvas File:Norman Garstin - A Woman Reading A Newspaper 1891.jpg, ''A Woman Reading A Newspaper'', 1891, oil on wood File:Norman Garstin - A View Of Mount's Bay 1892.jpg, ''A View of Mount's Bay,'' 1892, oil on panel File:Norman Garstin - Portrait 1896.jpg, ''Portrait of a Basque Woman,'' 1896, lithograph File:Norman Garstin - Alethea And Her Mother 1898.jpg, ''Alethea And Her Mother'', 1898, oil on wood File:Norman Garstin - Notre Dame Du Roncier Josselin 1911.jpg, ''Notre Dame Du Roncier Josselin'', 1911, oil on panel File:Norman Garstin - Saturday Josselin 1911.jpg, ''Saturday Josselin'', 1911, oil on panel File:Norman Garstin - The Bull Hotel 1916.jpg, ''The Bull Hotel'', 1916, oil on wood File:Norman Garstin - Breton Women At La Faouet.jpg, ''Breton Women at la Faouet'' File:Norman Garstin - In The Shade.jpg, ''In The Shade'', oil on canvas File:Norman Garstin - Newlyn From The Meadow.jpg, ''Newlyn from the Meadow'' File:Norman Garstin - Tiddlers.jpg, ''Tiddlers'', watercolour

Notes

References

External links

*
''Mount's Bay and Tolcarne from Trewidden Farm Footpath with Alethea and her Mother''
Tate
''Haycocks and Sun''
Tate {{DEFAULTSORT:Garstin, Norman 1847 births 1926 deaths 19th-century Irish painters 20th-century Irish painters Irish journalists Irish male painters Newlyn School of Artists Artists from County Limerick 19th-century Irish male artists 20th-century Irish male artists