Stock Code: 2610

Description: A delightful happy summer scene of children playing on a Cornish beach, painted in the inimitable style of one of Britain’s most loved post impressionist artists - Dorothea Sharp.

Further Information: Born in Dartford, Kentin 1874, Sharp initially studied at the Richmond art school, under the landscape painter C. E. Johnson, before moving on to the Regent Street Polytechnic, where she was influenced by the naturalistic Impressionist style of George Clausen and David Murray. This interest in Impressionism led Sharp to Paris, where she studied the works of Claude Monet in detail, working ‘en plein air’ and adapting his technique of pure colours to her own engaging style. Sharp first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1901, was elected an Associate of the Society of Women Artists two years later, and became a full member of the SWA in 1908.

In 1920 she moved to St. Ives in Cornwall, where there was a thriving community of artists, many of them specialising in landscape and figurative work. Settling there with her close friend Marcella Smith, Sharp continued to paint and exhibit at the RA for many years, becoming also a member of other societies, including the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI).

Sharp’s first solo show was held at the Connell Gallery in 1933. She specialised in depicting children at the seaside, picking wild flowers, or feeding chickens, and while charming, her work avoids the sentimentality of much Victorian art. Depicting an idyllic world of eternal sunshine, Sharp seems to have remained unaffected by dismal events in the world, such as wars and economic depression.

Condition: Excellent. No known restorations lightly cleaned and re-framed about 20 years ago.

Country of Origin: England

Artist & Painting: Dorothea Sharp RBA, ROI, VPSWA, British (1874-1955) – “Children on a Beach” – oil on board, signed with initials lower left and inscribed verso, circa 1935.

Provenance: Private collection Cornwall UK. Exhibited: Women Painters in Cornwall 1880 – 1940, Falmouth Art Gallery, 1996 and Plymouth Art Gallery 1997. Creating a Splash, Penlee House Art Gallery, Penzance, Lincoln Castle, Doncaster Art Gallery, Hereford Art Gallery, Sunderland Art Gallery and Newport Art Gallery, from 2002 – 2004. Bought originally from Dorothea Sharp at her studio in St Ives in the 1930s

Signed: With initials lower left

Dimensions of Canvas: Height 12.00 inches (30.48cm) Width 16.00 inches (40.64cm)