Norman Cornish

Norman Stansfield Cornish (18 November 1919 – 1 August 2014) was an English mining artist.

Berriman's Chip Van

Career

Cornish was the last surviving member of the "Pitman's Academy" art school at the Spennymoor Settlement in County Durham in North East England.[1] A former miner,[2] he was known for his pictures of mining community life.[3] Other artistic contemporaries of Cornish from the Spennymoor Settlement included Herbert Dees, Robert Heslop and Tom McGuinness.[4]

Cornish started work as a miner in 1933, at the age of 14.[5] He continued to work as a miner even after his painting career was established, until he retired as a miner and became a full-time artist in 1966.[5]

Cornish was granted an honorary Master of Arts degree by Newcastle University in 1974,[5] and an honorary doctorate by Sunderland University in 2012.[6] He was a contemporary and friend of the artist L. S. Lowry.[6]

He was married to Sarah. They had two children, John and Ann.[7]

Legacy

To mark the 100th anniversary of Cornish's birth, the Bowes Museum organised the first "major retrospective" of Cornish's work. The exhibition was scheduled to run from November 2019 to February 2020.[8] An exhibition of some of Cornish's 269 sketchbooks was scheduled for display over the same period at Durham University's Palace Green Library.[9]

In 2019, a 'Norman Cornish Trail' was created in Spennymoor to allow people to follow a 1.5 mile route to view many of the scenes painted by Cornish.[10]

A room within the art gallery at Spennymoor Town Hall has been dedicated to exhibiting paintings by Cornish.[11]

References
  1. "Last 'Pitman painter' Norman Cornish dies aged 94". BBC News. 2 August 2014.
  2. "The Art of Norman Cornish". BBC News. September 2004. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  3. Sid Chaplin (24 May 1960). "From the archive, 24 May 1960: The narrow world of Norman Cornish". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  4. "Celebrated County Durham artist Norman Cornish dies aged 94". The Northern Echo. 3 August 2014.
  5. "Norman Cornish - obituary". Daily Telegraph. 3 August 2014.
  6. "Honour for artist Norman Cornish". ITV.com. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  7. McNay, Michael (2014-08-01). "Norman Cornish obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  8. "Miner artist's works in 'major' retrospective". BBC News. 22 September 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  9. "Sketches from miner-turned-artist to go on show". BBS News. 10 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  10. MacFarlane, Katie (6 April 2019). "Legacy created for Norman Cornish on centenary of his birth". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  11. "A hub of culture and creativity". Welcome to Durham Tees Valley. 16 April 2021. p. 51. Retrieved 25 January 2021.


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