Artists in Purbeck: Spirit of Place exhibition, Bournemouth

Curating an art exhibition is always a challenge and a great privilege: Artists in Purbeck: Spirit of Place has been no exception. An added pleasure has been returning to places I visited as a child with my family, travelling from Barton-on-Sea in Hampshire to walk and camp in Purbeck. No wonder artists have been captivated by Purbeck’s spectacular coastline, varied landscape and picturesque villages.

As ever with a new exhibition (and in this case one uniquely focused on artists in Purbeck be they resident or visiting) there is a myriad of factors to consider. Perhaps most significant is what to include and organising themes, the order of what now runs to over 70 works by 50 artists can be developed later. In early 2023, requesting external loans from national galleries was a priority as they often require a long run in – some at least a year, and there are ‘no givens’ as to availability or willingness to loan. So, a case needs to be crafted for each request. Decisions take time and, depending on the outcome, slight changes in direction can occur necessitating finding alternative work to enable development of the exhibition ‘narrative’. Fortunately, set against these uncertainties was the knowledge that the Russell-Cotes’ collection, built up by the founders in the late 19th century, had also benefitted from curators over the last century adding work through bequests, donations and purchases, including those by artists involved in the vibrant local art scene. My intention with this exhibition was to showcase a wide selection of these from the 20th century together with rarely seen work from private collections. There was much detailed research to undertake in galleries, libraries, local archives and museums (whose volunteers and employees have generously supported the exhibition) if I was to unearth the connections between the artists and Purbeck in the context of place and their life stories.

Event on the Downs (1934), Paul Nash, oil on canvas. (Image: UK Government Art Collection)) Inclusion of works by Paul Nash (1889 – 1946) was therefore important to me as it vividly conveys his attachment to Purbeck; it was where he found renewed enthusiasm in the 1930s and painted some of his best-known work including Event on the Downs (1934) while based in Swanage, a place he first visited in 1898. Part of the extensive Government Art Collection, I knew this painting might be in any of the British government buildings in the UK or even overseas, but to my relief it was in London. The loan request was accepted, so it will be exhibited for the first time at the Russell-Cotes. Shortly before his death Nash wrote that ‘he was in his kingdom in Swanage’ and in Outline, his unfinished autobiography, he described ‘finding new forms; a new world opening’.

Event on the Downs depicts the view from the secluded, Whitecliff Farm on Ballard Down, near Swanage where he and his wife Margaret stayed from October 1934 to February 1935. The strange mix of style (realism with abstraction, Nash mistrusted the label Surrealist) and imagery (tree stump meets enlarged tennis ball with carved tracks behind) is full of hints of meaning about mortality.

Near Swanage (1916), Mark Gertler, oil on board. (Image: Pallant House Gallery, Chichester/ Kearley Bequest, through The Art Fund, 1989) Swanage and Studland attracted members of the Bloomsbury Group. The prodigiously talented Mark Gertler (1891 – 1939) stayed at Peveril House, the Swanage home of his patron Monty Shearman, where he painted Near Swanage (1916). Gertler wrote to fellow artist Dora Carrington, through whom he became associated with the Bloomsbury Group, describing his enjoyment of the ‘wonderful country here’. He explained: ‘From every window one gets a good enough view for painting. The sea surrounds the house on two sides. There is just a bit of garden and then cliff, below which is the open sea!’

Off Old Harry Rocks, Dorset, by Jennifer May Surridge, gouache on paper. (Image: Estate of the Artist/courtesy of Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum) These and other external loans complement work from the Russell-Cotes’ collection including Off Old Harry Rocks, Dorset (1968) by Poole artist Jenny May Surridge (1933-2024) who had early success as a student when one of her drawings was selected by L.S. Lowry, Prunella Clough and Michael Rothenstein for the Young Contemporaries exhibition in London in 1954. Surridge made a major impact locally and I was fortunate to meet her when researching A Century of British Art Bournemouth Arts Club 1920 – 2020, the first exhibition I curated at Russell-Cotes in 2021. Jeremy Gardiner’s work reflects his deep and long-term interest in the geology of landscape and how it is shaped by the forces of nature. His large-scale painting Old Harry Rocks V (2022) offers visitors a unique lens with which to interpret the coastal landscape of Purbeck. Gardiner is one of a small number of contemporary artists whose work is included in the exhibition and whose studio I visited to see him at work and better understand the processes he employs.

Old Harry Rocks V, 2022, Jeremy Gardiner, acrylic and jesmonite on poplar (Image: Collection of the artist) Corfe Castle remains another compelling subject for artists, Paul Nash described it as the ‘Magnet of the Isle of Purbeck’. Francis ‘Fra’ Newbery (1855 – 1946), director of Glasgow School of Art retired there in 1918, painting it many times. Retracing his footsteps, and those of renowned New Zealand born artist Frances Hodgkins (1869 – 1947) who made her first visit to Corfe in 1934 and was resident during the Second World War and worked in his studio, was illuminating. Purbeck Courtyard, Morning (1944) demonstrates Hodgkins's achievement as a colourist; the fluid brushwork portraying the small courtyard glowing red in the morning sunlight with plump cat basking in the sun.

Purbeck Courtyard, Morning, 1944, Frances Hodgkins, oil on wood. (Image: Courtesy Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton Culture & Tourism Service)) I was intrigued to discover how a small artistic community in Corfe developed at that time as singers, dancers and musicians arrived in the surrounding area. During Purbeck Art Weeks, at the end of May, I visited Sandy Hill Arts and was struck by the still thriving arts community (both visual and performing) in Corfe nearly a century after the pageant Newbery wrote was performed in 1927 by local children in costumes made by Jessie Newbery. He took an early interest in the children’s art education painting Corfe Castle Infant School (1919) which has been loaned to us for this exhibition by Corfe Castle Town Trust. The Newbery’s friends Hilda Spencer Watson, a dancer and mime artist, and her daughter Mary (later a well-known sculptor whose small study for Purbeck Quarry Man, c.2000 is on display), lived nearby in Langton Matravers and participated in the pageant. (The family’s home Dunshay Manor was bought in 1923 by George Spencer Watson (1869 - 1933), a portrait painter). Returning to Dunshay recently I met Toby Wiggins. He works in the studio that his late friend and mentor Mary Spencer Watson (1913 – 2006), and her father used, and he has loaned his painting of the studio.

Two Quarrymen at Seacombe (1920s), Alfred Palmer, oil on board. (Image: Langton Matravers Local History & Preservation Society) Well-known local artist Leslie Ward’s (1851 – 1922) interest in architectural ruins drew him to Corfe Castle, it was one of his favourite subjects. Corfe Castle from West Hill (1930-1950) captures the iconic ruins of what had been an intimidating fortress prior to the English Civil War in the 1640s. Finally, I’ve included Two Quarrymen at Seacombe (1920s) by Alfred Palmer (1877-1951) who was inspired by their skill and strength. The oil painting shows the muscular, clean, oft bare-chested quarrymen as they handled the large blocks of stone. It features in the exhibition section: ‘The Working Landscape’ which draws attention to the significance of the now abandoned clifftop quarries, as well as those inland on the Isle of Purbeck which supplied the Portland stone for many famous buildings providing a living for quarrymen and masons alike.

This is just a small selection of the 70 works that feature in the Artists in Purbeck: Spirit of Place. I hope these will tempt you to come to the exhibition and find out more about these and other featured artists and view their stylistically varied work.

Artists in Purbeck: Spirit of Place runs until March 16, 2024

Curator Tour of Artists in Purbeck: Spirit of Place

Join Dr Gill Clarke for a journey around the Isle of Purbeck through the wonderful work of well-known artists who were inspired to capture the regions coastline, landscape and landmarks. November 6 at 11am. Cost £6 plus admission. Book at russellcotes.com/event/curator-tour-purbeck/