The Tate Museum has 4 components, The Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, and
Tate St. Ives. After this last trip, I now have been to 3 out of the 4. I need to make my way to Liverpool one day to see the art and perhaps catch a football match at
Anfield.
St. Ives is a very charming place and that's why it is teeming with tourists (of course, I am one of those wretched holiday makers.)
Our walk along the bay included this view of stranded boats. I was assured that the tide would come in and the boats would be afloat.
And...so the tide came in and all was well.
But the real reason for walking along the bayside was to go to the Tate St. Ives.
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| Tate St Ives |
I wasn't allowed to photograph anything except this piece that was in the lobby. This piece covering a large window was lovely.
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| "Window for Tate Gallery St. Ives" by Patrick Heron 1992-3 |
The museum prominently featured the work of Ben Nicholson, who spent many years in St. Ives with his wife the sculptor Barbara Hepworth.
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| "St. Ives" by Ben Nicholson |
The Tate has a very informative audio
walking tour about Ben Nicholson and his time in St. Ives and while I didn't have the time to listen to the whole tour, I learned about Nicholson's early influence.
Alfred Wallis was a 73 year old retired seaman who later worked as a rag and bone man after retiring from sea life. He started painting after his wife passed away. Nicholson and a friend happened by Wallis' house and he was mesmerized by Wallis' work. I thought the work had such a charming naivete, that I purchased a tote bag with this image on it in the gift shop.
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"Houses at St Ives" by Alfred Wallis
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Tate St Ives does not hold a permanent collection of work in the gallery but presents special exhibitions which change three times a year. I saw a lovely exhibition titled "International Exchanges: Modern Art and St. Ives 1915-1965" which focused on the local St Ives artists and how they might have been influenced by foreign artists. Some of the St Ives artists were Peter Lanyon, Bryan Wynter, Alan Davie, and William Scott.
The curator made a case for these artists being inspired by outside influences such as from Moholy-Nagy,
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| "KVII" by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy 1922 |
Jean Dubuffet
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| "Chic Temps" by Jean Dubuffet 1955 |
Georges Braque
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| "The Billiard Table" by Georges Braque |
Clifford Still (couldn't get enough of this!)
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| Clifford Still 1955 |
Sam Francis
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| "Gray Space" by Sam Francis 1950-1 |
Franz Kline (it was stunning!)
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| "Meryon" by Franz Kline 1960 |
and more...
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| "The Quotidian" by Ben Nicholson 1932 |
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| Untitled by Mark Rothko 1950-2 |
This Rothko seemed to glow more than any other I've seen.
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| "Nulli Secundes" by Hans Hofmann 1964 |
What a beautiful Hofmann painting. A little side note: he taught at UC Berkeley.
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| "Persepctives" by Jean-Paul Riopelle 1956 |
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| "Northwest Drift" by Mark Tobey 1958 |
How great that this Pacific Northwest painter's work made it all the way to England.
My favorite of the St. Ives painters was Peter Lanyon.
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| "Inshore Fishing" by Peter Lanyon 1953 |
And while the following painting wasn't displayed, I wanted to include it since we stayed in Zennor and i loved the colors.
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| "Zennor Storm" by Peter Lanyon |
I also enjoyed the work of William Scott although I couldn't find a good image of "The Harbour". Instead, I found this on the Tate website and hope to see it in person one day.
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| ""White Sand and Ochre" by William Scott 1960-1 |
We stopped for lunch at the cafe which might have one of the best views from a museum cafe I've ever seen.
Next up, the Barbara Hepworth sculpture museum.
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