So you might have heard of Damien Hirst, David Hockney and L S Lowry, all fantastic English artists but have you ever heard of Norman Cornish? He is an over looked treasure. Norman Cornish
During lockdown I travelled to Barnard Castle where we went to visit the Bowes museum. Norman Cornish had an exhibition there and I was thoroughly intrigued by his artwork so much so when I went home I researched about who he was and why he painted like he did. I
discovered he came from Spennymoor in County Durham, and passed away in 2014 at the age of 94, having spent all his life in the mining community. He painted very much like Lowry did, from the everyday life around where he lived. he said ” Spennymoor has all that a painter needs in order to depict humanity”.
The exhibition is running until the 17th of January 2021 should you find yourself in the area of the Bowes Museum it’s well worth a visit.
I was immediately transported back in time to his local area. Many of these buildings he painted are still there to this day and a trail has been developed around Spennymoor to where you can actually go and find 10 locations where paintings were created. Cornish Trail (normancornish.com) There is a map of the mile and half route, with a fascinating audio spoken by his son and local people, to accompany it. As soon as we are allowed to travel freely again I intend to head up the the North East to investigate for myself.
Berriman’s chip van is also a real insight into a past time, the van has been restored and displayed at Beamish Museum. I can just imagine queuing up for my fish and chips! A simple observation of a local original takeaway!!
Like LS Lowry, Cornish was inspired by the people and their interactions with the local area. Spennymoor was a large mining area and he painted the miners at work and at play, himself being miner for over 30 years. He painted the same scenes at different times of the year, the road to the pit was 3 miles there and back so saw it in all weathers.
“The images come from the people. They create them. I am just the medium,”
I think one of the most evocative paintings is “Zebra Crossing”. It’s an area where there is a lot of activity at certain times of the day, to and from school. I stood and looked at this painting for a long while, making me think of when I pick my granddaughter up from school, no zebra crossing, but an extremely jolly lollipop man, named Philip, who passes the time of day with all the children, making them smile, laugh and passing a joke as they cross the road.
Rambling With Ruthie 