Port Isaac, Cornwall

This light-filled back street view in Port Isaac, on Cornwall's north coast, shows the celebrated St Ives painter John Anthony Park RBA ROI (1880–1962) working in a post-impressionistic style. Park was a leading figure in the St Ives art colony during the interwar years, best known for his impressionistic depictions of boats in St Ives harbour. Park's work is considered an important link between the more traditional St Ives artists and the modernists, between the en plein-air artists of the late 19th century and the mid-20th century movement that was later to dominate St Ives. His style was recognised by many of the modernists as the most advanced of the traditional painters.

Park encountered first-hand the Impressionists and contemporary Post-Impressionists in Paris in 1905, where he enrolled at The Académie Colarossi under Auguste Delecluse and was a contemporary of Modigliani. He also spent time at French artists’ colonies, such as Concarneau in Brittany. This had a lasting effect upon his colour palette, paint handling and ability to capture light.

He painted narrow Cornish street views on a number of occasions; the multifaceted architecture allows for geometric shapes and blocks of flattened colour, hinting at a consciousness of form that aligns his work with that of the Post-Impressionists.

Stock number JY-823