WITH its thriving fishing community and picturesque bay, Cullercoats became a magnet for artists.
A string of leading painters were lured to the North Tyneside village during the late 19th and early 20th Century who illustrated coastal life remarkably on canvas.
Now a selection of pictures, many of which have been rarely shown in public during the last 25 years, will be put on show at a special exhibition.
Cullercoats: An Artists’ Colony by the Sea spans a period of around 50 years, when the village was one of the most important centres for artistic activity in the country.
The display will include 28 works from North Tyneside Council’s art collection by major North East artists such as Robert Jobling, John Falconar Slater, WH Charlton, Bernard Benedict Hemy and George Horton.
Eight paintings, from the Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums collections, will also be part of the exhibition.
A council spokesman said: “It was in the 1820s that artists began to discover the charms of Cullercoats and the potential of the village as an artistic subject – not only the breathtaking coastline and picturesque bay, but also the character of the fishing community.
“John Wilson Carmichael, George Balmer and Thomas Miles Richardson were among those who visited and painted the village and neighbouring areas. What can justifiably be described as a colony emerged in the second half of the 19th Century, when artists began to come to Cullercoats in larger numbers and, in some cases, took up residence in the village.
“One of the first was Henry Hetherington Emmerson, in 1866, and he became immersed in village life to such an extent, joining the Cullercoats Volunteer Life Brigade for instance, that when he died in 1895 he was accorded a traditional fisherman’s funeral as a mark of respect.
“In contrast to other artist colonies of the period, such as Newlyn in Cornwall, Cullercoats was unusual in that the artists were predominately local, not ‘incomers’.
“They were mutually supportive, being more interested in developing a local gallery circuit than in exhibiting in London, although many did show their work at the Royal Academy and other prestigious galleries.
“The heyday of the colony is generally reckoned to be between about 1870 and 1920, which provides the main focus of this exhibition.”
Of the visiting artists, the most famous was American painter Winslow Homer, who lived and worked in the village for about 18 months during 1881 and 1882.
Among the pieces on show will be When the Boats Come In or Morning on the Beach, an 1887 oil on canvas by Jobling.
Also on view will be a 1905 painting of a fishwife by N Anderson, a fishing fleet in North Shields and a shipwreck near St Mary’s Island in Whitley Bay by Hemy, and a stormy sea scene by Slater.
These paintings have mostly remained in store for 25 years. Last year, a small selection was shown at the council headquarters to mark the centenary of the death of Homer.
The exhibition will run at the Segedunum Roman Fort, Baths & Museum, in Wallsend, from October 22 to April 15.
