The great American painter Edward Hopper famously once said that all he ever wanted to do was “paint sunlight on the side of a house”. Born 24 years previously on 12 June 1858, the Yorkshire-born artist Henry Scott Tuke had similarly modest aims. His one over-arching ambition in life, however, was to capture the effects of sunlight on skin.
Tuke achieved this arguably more successfully than any other artist of his generation. A comprehensive new exhibition at Surrey’s Watts Gallery, titled simply Henry Scott Tuke, covers all aspects of his portfolio, yet it is his paintings of boys and young men, lounging topless on boats and rocks in the harbours of his native Cornwall, that proved a powerful calling card for both the artist’s talents and the area as a whole. “His work is very poetic and the moods he engenders captures the youth of Cornwall,” says the gallery’s new artist-in-residence, Nneka Uzoigwe [see page 29]. “When I look at his paintings, I get the feeling of an endless summer.”
The likes of 1893’s August Blue and 1902’s Ruby, Gold and Malachite weren’t simply imagined idyllic scenes, however. “As both an avid artist and sailor, Tuke sought out new and experimental ways to paint en plein air afloat on his purpose-built studio-boat,” explains Watts Gallery curator Dr Cicely Robinson. “Living in Falmouth, he amassed a fleet of small boats which he used as platforms for painting, to facilitate his quest to find colourful atmospheric effects.”
Denne historien er fra Summer 2021-utgaven av Artists & Illustrators.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra Summer 2021-utgaven av Artists & Illustrators.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Still life IN 3 HOURS
Former BP Portrait Award runner-up FELICIA FORTE guides you through a simple, structured approach to painting alla prima that tackles dark, average and light colours in turn
Movement in composition
Through an analysis of three masterworks, landscape painter and noted author MITCHELL ALBALA shows how you can animate landscape composition with movement
Shane Berkery
The Irish-Japanese artist talks to REBECCA BRADBURY about the innovative concepts and original colour combinations he brings to his figurative oil paintings from his Dublin garden studio
The Working Artist
Something old, something new... Our columnist LAURA BOSWELL has expert advice for balancing fresh ideas with completing half-finished work
Washes AND GLAZES
Art Academy’s ROB PEPPER introduces an in-depth guide to incorporating various techniques into your next masterpiece. Artwork by STAN MILLER, CHRIS ROBINSON and MICHELE ILLING
Hands
LAURA SMITH continues her new four-part series, which encourages you to draw elements of old master paintings, and this month’s focus is on capturing hands
Vincent van Gogh
To celebrate The Courtauld’s forthcoming landmark display of the troubled Dutch master’s self-portraits, STEVE PILL looks at the stories behind 10 of the most dramatic works on display
BRING THE drama
Join international watercolour maestro ALVARO CASTAGNET in London’s West End to paint a dramatic street scene
Serena Rowe
The Scottish painter tells STEVE PILL why time is precious, why emotional responses to colour are useful, and how she finds focus every day with the help of her studio wall
Bill Jacklin
Chatting over Zoom as he recovers from appendicitis, the Royal Academician tells STEVE PILL about classic scrapes in New York and his recent experiments with illustration