Polperro – Cornwall’s Forgotten Art Centre – David Tovey
5th May 2021
“During the late nineteenth and for much of the twentieth century, Polperro was considered one of Cornwall’s leading art centres. It was referred to as “the haunt of half the artists of Britain”, and as being one of the most painted villages in the world. Yet a visitor to Polperro today would come away completely oblivious that it had any artistic heritage at all.”
David, an independent art historian, who specialises in Cornish art and is an Arts Society lecturer, will present his ground-breaking research into the fascinating story of art in Polperro and, in particular, will highlight how it became the Cornish destination of choice for a number of significant foreign artists. He will also reveal what artists tell us about Polperro’s smuggling and fishing past through the changing harbourscape.