Pauline HEWITT
The artist studied at the Slade under Phil Whiting and Sir William ORPEN, and in Paris. She exhibited regularly in London and also taught painting herself.
She came to St Ives in 1912 for a holiday, and stayed until 1954 with frequent visits away. She exhibited in 1913 Monday St Ives (Oil), and in the 1914 exhibition of Painters and Etchers held by Lanhams. She exhibited portraits in the Show Days of 1923 and 1924, for which she was rightly admired. The subject of one in 1924 was her son, a naval cadet. An artist of the same name (P HEWITT) exhibited handwrought pewter work at Newlyn in 1928, hence perhaps she also engaged in one of the many crafts being exhibited after the Christmas Show at Newlyn (1924). This introduced such important artistic specialties as the Leach POTTERY, sculpture, and the work of the handicraft guilds of both Newlyn and St Ives.
Her home address from 1931 was 3 St Andrews Street, St Ives. During the 1930s her paintings of Polperro were included in STISA touring shows, and were also shown at the Royal Academy in 1934 and 1937. Tovey called her a stalwart of the St Ives colony, having lived there and steadily produced admirable work, often highly praised, for over forty years. She was described by Terence Cuneo in his autobiography as 'a first rate painter'.
In her last year of life she moved to be near her son, and died in Surrey.
media
Painter of landscapes, coastal scenes, portrait and figure painting
works and access
Works include: Monday St Ives (1913); Summer Afternoon; Flowers by a Window (1924); Kathleen Bradshaw (1930); The Swan Pool (1938); Kitzbuhel (1939); Ladies and Parasols; Herring Packing, St Ives
exhibitions
St Ives Summer Permanent Exhibition 1913; Lanham's (Painters and Etchers) 1914
NAG 1924
Porthmeor Gallery Summer 1928
STISA 1932 Touring
Show Day St Ives 1939;
SWA 1939
Royal Institute Galleries 1938
Falmouth Art Gallery Women Artists in Cornwall 1880-1940 1996
Penlee House, Penzance Women Artists in Cornwall Exhibition 2002
memberships
Society of Women Artists
ROI 1940
STISA 1927-54
references
The Cornishman and Cornish Telegraph 8 Aug 1928
St Ives Times 1 Aug 1913
Hardie (2009) Artists in Newlyn and West Cornwall (col pl: Summer Afternoon)
Newlyn Exhibition Records
Newton et al (2005) Painting at the Edge
Tovey (2000) GF Bradshaw & STISA (Appendix 3: Principal Members of STISA 1927-1960)
(2003) Creating a Splash
(2009) St Ives: Social History
(2021) Polperro - Cornwall's Forgotten Art Centre - Volume Two - Post-1920, Wilson Books
Wallace et al (1996) Women Artists in Cornwall 1880-1940
Whybrow (1994) St Ives (1921-39 list)
Wormleighton (1998) Morning Tide