Newlyn School

Some of the first British artists to settle in the area had already travelled in Brittany, but found in Newlyn a comparable English environment with a number of things guaranteed to attract them: fantastic light, cheap living, and the availability of inexpensive models.

Some paintings showed the hazards and tragedy of the community's life, such as women anxiously looking out to sea as the boats go out, or a young woman crying on hearing news of a disaster.

Walter Langley is generally recognised as the pioneer of the Newlyn art colony and Stanhope Forbes, who settled there in 1884, as the father of it.

The local newspaper (The Cornishman) was positive about the artists, reporting that the area had much to thank them for ″... circulating money, ...″, and ″... are ever ready to assist in anything which pertains to the welfare of the town.″[1] The later Forbes School of Painting, founded by Forbes and his wife Elizabeth in 1899, promoted the study of figure painting.

Every Corner was a Picture: A checklist compiled for the West Cornwall Art Archive of 50 artists from the early Newlyn School painters through to the present.