Nicholas Reed - The British Impressionists
Event type: Art Talk
Date & Time: Tuesday 16 Nov at 7.30pm
Location: Gold Room, Winter Garden, Eastbourne, East Sussex
Admission: £8 (Members £7)
Tickets: Available from Hon Treasurer/Ticket Administrator Wendy Bishop
Who were the British Impressionists?
One might start with Philip Wilson Steer whose magical evocations of young girls playing on the beach at Walberswick and Southwold in Suffolk are a match for any beach scene by Monet or Boudin. Continue with Spencer Gore, the first President of the Camden Town Group, and his misty views of Richmond Park in winter and Letchworth Garden City in summer.
His successor Walter Sickert's vivid views of Venice are rivalled only by his dark but distinctive depictions of Dieppe. Their predecessor Lucien Pissarro influenced them and painted landscapes all round England, including Hastings and Rye.
After looking at interiors and portraits by Gilman (the English van Gogh) and architectural masterpieces in Bath and Plymouth portrayed by Ginner, perhaps the most striking feature of the Camden Town Group is that they hardly ever depicted Camden Town! They simply met there for tea to discuss their paintings.
To sum up: the British Impressionists gave the French a good run for their money and if they were sometimes better, they were after all a generation later, and learnt much from their predecessors.
Nichola Reed