The Penwith Society of Arts

On the 8th of February 1949, nineteen artists gathered following a meeting at the Castle Inn in St Ives, Cornwall, and founded the Penwith Society of Arts. 

The occasion was as much a rupture as a beginning. The previous year, a simmering conflict between traditionalists and modernists at the St Ives Society of Artists (STISA) had come to a head, prompting the resignation of around two dozen modernist members. 

The Penwith Society was the response – a new organisation open to painters, sculptors, graphic artists and craftspeople, explicitly welcoming both professional and lay members, and dedicated to work with what they called “a creative element.”

The nineteen founding members formed a remarkable roll call of mid-century British art: Shearer Armstrong, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Sven Berlin, David Cox, Agnes E. Drey, Leonard John Fuller, Isobel Heath, Barbara Hepworth, Marion Grace Hocken, Peter Lanyon, Bernard Leach, Denis Mitchell, Guido Morris, Marjorie Mostyn, Dicon Nance, Robin Nance, Ben Nicholson, Hyman Segal and John Wells. Many of these names would go on to define St Ives as a hotbed for twentieth-century British art. 

The Penwith Society was also conceived as a memorial tribute to the painter Borlase Smart, a beloved figure in the St Ives community who had died the previous year.

From the outset, however, the young society experienced internal tensions. By 1950 a proposal emerged to divide the membership into three formal ‘A, B and C’ groups: Traditionalists, Modernists and Craftsmen. The idea proved deeply divisive. Peter Lanyon was the most vocal opponent, and the controversy prompted several founding members – among them Lanyon, Sven Berlin, David Cox, Isobel Heath, Hyman Segal and Guido Morris – to resign. Lanyon went on to exhibit with the Newlyn Society of Artists, becoming its chairman in 1961. 

The divisions that the Penwith had been formed to escape from seemed, in some ways, to have followed it. The contentious A, B and C group rule was eventually abolished in 1957, but the episode illustrated just how volatile and spirited the St Ives artistic community could be.

Location, location, location

For its first decade the Society operated from shop premises in the town, but in 1961 it made a move that would define its identity for decades to come. A former pilchard-packing cellar in the cobbled back streets of St Ives was converted into a gallery: a generous, top-lit space that proved a notably sympathetic setting for paintings and small sculpture. 

The site was extended in the early 1970s to incorporate a former underground car park and adjacent buildings. A charitable company, Penwith Galleries Ltd, was established to manage the complex, arrange exhibitions and handle all gallery business.

A new era

It was around the time of the move to the new gallery that the Society’s fortunes began to be shaped, in no small part, by one exceptional individual, Kathleen Watkins. Kathy was appointed curator and secretary in June 1967, and she would hold the role for 46 years until her death in 2013 at the age of 80. 

Her job description on arrival comprised gallery director, curator, security officer, office administrator, front of house …everything from organising exhibitions to keeping the galleries spick and span.

Kathy had come to St Ives in the late 1950s, working initially as a hotel receptionist — experience that, as one account drily noted, probably helped develop her formidable combination of firmness, tact and discretion when dealing with artists of every persuasion. (It was Kathy who, in autumn 1959, had the task of relocating Francis Bacon and his lover to a more discreet room at Curnow’s hotel after complaints from other guests.) 

Prior to her appointment to the Penwith, the Society had been beset by management and financial difficulties, and secretaries seldom stayed for long. Kathy changed that. She embraced her role with what colleagues described as serene determination, forming lasting friendships with members including Hepworth, Denis Mitchell, Breon O’Casey, Tony O’Malley, and Bernard and Janet Leach, and overseeing a regular programme of seasonal mixed shows and solo exhibitions.

Her principles were clear and unwavering. Artist members had the final say in how their work was displayed. Outside interference was resisted, and from 1980 the Society declined all forms of public funding. Gallery hours were observed strictly – no exceptions for late arrivals or eager collectors, and lunch breaks were strictly adhered to. 

In a community famous for flamboyant personalities, Kathy’s presence was unforgettable: striking in appearance, hugely knowledgeable, and equally willing to talk with local schoolchildren as with visiting international artists.

Today the Penwith Society of Arts continues to operate from its St Ives gallery, offering a year-round programme of exhibitions by members and associates, as well as artists from across Cornwall and beyond. Its history — turbulent, creative, occasionally fractious, always vital – mirrors the story of 20th century British art itself. 

Founded in dissent, shaped by some of the most significant artists of the twentieth century, and sustained for nearly half a century by one remarkable woman, the Penwith remains, in its own words, at the forefront of presenting contemporary work of quality. 

Penwith Gallery website >

At Skylona we hold a number of catalogues and booklets for the Penwith Society and the Penwith Gallery, primarily covering the 1960s and 1970s: