Artists on the coast

Shorelines – Artists on the South Coast at St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery, Lymington, Hampshire, will explore how artists have drawn inspiration from the cliffs, beaches, and harbours of the Channel #coast. Showcasing works by some of the most important names in British art over the last few centuries – including Constable and Turner – it also reveals work by lesser known artists. 

Shorelines runs from September 19 to January 9.

As an island state, #Britain has literally been defined by its coast, its identity bound up with a seafaring heritage and maritime history. The south coast has often been the first line of defence against the threat of invasion, but it’s also been a gateway for trade and a popular destination for those seeking fun, sun, and sea air. 

This exhibition looks at the contrasting approaches taken by resident and visiting artists who drew inspiration from the shoreline. Early marine painters such as Charles Brooking depicted the naval and merchant fleets, which were busy establishing Britain's global empire. The fashion for the picturesque, popularized by William Gilpin, also encouraged artists such as JMW Turner to visit the south coast, while Pre-Raphaelite landscape painter John Brett revealed the grandeur of the Cornish coast. 

The south coast’s changing moods are demonstrated, with the terror of storms captured in wreck paintings by George Morland and Richard Eurich, contrasted by the serene calm of Sussex ports portrayed by Eric Ravilious. Its function as a defence frontier is depicted by Thomas Rowlandson, who drew Henry VIII's Hurst Castle during the Napoleonic Wars, and JD Fergusson and Christopher Nevinson’s paintings of the docks at Portsmouth and Southampton in the Great War. WW2 brought Eric Ravilious, Richard Eurich, and Norman Wilkinson to portray air battles and convoys under attack.

www.stbarbe-museum.org.uk

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46781500@N00/1116720953">The Needles at Alum Bay.</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">(license), Eric Ravilious-Newhaven Harbour (V&A)