Norman Cornish

British artist (1919–2014)

Norman Cornish
"Berriman's Chip Van" by Norman Cornish
Born	(1919-11-18)18 November 1919
Died	1 August 2014(2014-08-01) (aged 94)
Nationality	British
Occupation	Artist
Spouse	Sarah
Children	2

Norman Stansfield Cornish (18 November 1919 – 1 August 2014) was an English miner and an artist, particularly in the field of painting, focusing on mining life and community.

Biography

Norman Cornish was born in 1919 at the Spennymoor Settlement in County Durham in North East England.^[1] Cornish started work as a miner in 1933, at the age of 14.^[2] 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.^[2]

Married to Sarah, the couple had two children, John and Ann.^[3] Cornish died in 2014.^[1]

Career

Cornish joined the "Pitman's Academy" art school at the age of 15, becoming known as a "pit painter", and was the last surviving member of the Spennymoor institute.^[1]^[4] A former miner,^[5] he was known for his pictures of mining community life.^[6] Other artistic contemporaries of Cornish from the Spennymoor Settlement included Herbert Dees, Robert Heslop and Tom McGuinness.^[7]

Cornish was granted an honorary Master of Arts degree by Newcastle University in 1974,^[2] and an honorary doctorate by Sunderland University in 2012.^[8] He was a contemporary and friend of the artist L. S. Lowry.^[8]

Artworks

Cornish's 22 in × 29 in (560 mm × 740 mm) painting, "Bar Scene" was found to contain a self-portrait of the artist on the enclosed back side of the canvas in 2024. Potentially unknown for 60 years, the self-portrait is the 29th known of Cornish.^[1]

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.^[9] An exhibition of some of Cornish's 269 sketchbooks was scheduled for display over the same period at Durham University's Palace Green Library.^[10]

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.^[11]

A room within the art gallery at Spennymoor Town Hall has been dedicated to exhibiting paintings by Cornish.^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Masih, Niha (21 July 2024). "'Magical' self-portrait was hidden for decades - until the canvas was flipped". The Seattle Times. The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Norman Cornish - obituary". Daily Telegraph. 3 August 2014.
^ McNay, Michael (1 August 2014). "Norman Cornish obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
^ "Last 'Pitman painter' Norman Cornish dies aged 94". BBC News. 2 August 2014.
^ "The Art of Norman Cornish". BBC News. September 2004. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
^ Sid Chaplin (24 May 1960). "From the archive, 24 May 1960: The narrow world of Norman Cornish". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
^ "Celebrated County Durham artist Norman Cornish dies aged 94". The Northern Echo. 3 August 2014.
^ ^a ^b "Honour for artist Norman Cornish". ITV.com. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
^ "Miner artist's works in 'major' retrospective". BBC News. 22 September 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
^ "Sketches from miner-turned-artist to go on show". BBS News. 10 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
^ MacFarlane, Katie (6 April 2019). "Legacy created for Norman Cornish on centenary of his birth". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
^ "A hub of culture and creativity". Welcome to Durham Tees Valley. 16 April 2021. p. 51. Retrieved 25 January 2021.