A Passion for Penwith and its People is the title of a selling showcase of collectible paintings by Mousehole-based naïve artist Joan Gillchrest, who died in 2008.
Her passion for Penwith and its inhabitants is vividly expressed in the lovingly-curated exhibition of oil-on-board paintings depicting the rugged, sometimes humorous Cornish fishing life of Mousehole, Newlyn, and St Ives. The works are on show at Portjminster Gallery.
Pitching and rolling fishing boats, quaint coastal harbours and their villages, and their local ‘fisherfolk’ are all on show. Her naïve style was deeply influenced by the St Ives School, particularly the works of Alfred Wallace, Christoper Wood, and Bryan Pearce.
Joan Linda Gilbert Scott was born in 1918 at Bentinck Street, London, to Dr Sebstian and Alice Gilbert Scott. She was educated at Rosemead School, Upper Chine School on the Isle of Wight, and Wadhurst Boarding School. In 1934 she travelled to Paris to learn French and deepen her interest in art, and it was there where she met Gwen John in her studio.
Between 1935 and 1939 she studied at the Grosvenor School of Art and exhibited her work at the Royal Academy, the New English Ar Club, and the London Group.
At the start of the Second World War, she volunteered as an ambulance driver for Westminster Hospital. Then, in 1942, she married Samuel Gillchrest. The following year, their daughter, Marguerite, was born; their son, Paul, followed in 1947. The couple divorced in 1953, after which Joan turned to modelling for prominent London fashion houses to support herself and continue her painting.
After returning to Tite Street, in Chelsea, in 1955, she met the artist Adrian Ryan. They moved to Cornwall in 1958, and Joan purchased a cottage in Mousehole. The pair separated in 1965, with Adrian returning to London, leaving Joan to focus on her painting. She soon began exhibiting locally, in Mousehole, Penzance, and St Ives, which led to her first solo exhibition, at Plymouth Art Gallery in 1969.
Over the following decade, Joan’s career continued to grow, and she participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including at The New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham, Windsor and Eton Fine Art Co Ltd, Leon Suddaby Fine Art, Newlyn Orion, and the New Craftsman in St Ives.
In 1990, she held her first exhibition at the Wren Gallery in Burford, where she presented annual solo shows from 1991 until her death in 2008. The show at Porthminster Gallery runs until 26th September.
