Ralph C TODD
Born in London and lived in Tooting, the artist studied in Belgium, Holland and France and moved to Newlyn in 1883, having met Stanhope FORBES in Quimperle the previous year. From 1880 he had been exhibiting at the leading London galleries including the RA and RI, and when Forbes arrived in Newlyn in 1884, he wrote to his mother about meeting young Todd whom he had met in France, commenting on Todd's wooing of a French girl, to whom he was engaged. He is one of the artists in the group photograph of the Newlyn group in 1884.
Todd married Vasilesa in 1888 and was the father of a daughter, Charlotte, and later that year (1891) a son, Arthur Ralph Middleton TODD. He exhibited at the Opening Exhibition of NAG in 1895 with titles Toil and Pleasure, From Jack at Sea and Our London Letter. His sending-in address in 1896 was Birmingham, but he was back in Newlyn by 1902.
Though he produced some good work, his output was uneven, and inconsistent (Fox), and he did not meet with overwhelming success. Five of his oil paintings are in the collection of the RCM, Truro. From 1912 his address was in Helston. The artist died at Devoran near Truro on 28 June, 1932 at the age of 76 (GRO).
media
Painter in oils and watercolours of genre and landscape
works and access
Works include: A country well (w/c); Headland near the Lizard (w/c); Early Morning - the Latest News 1885; A Darkened Home 1887; The Prodigal's Return (1893); Her Mother's Shoe; Landing the Catch; Harvesters of the Sea (RCM); Woman mending nets; Spring Memories (w/c)
Access to work: Cornish auction houses (2005-10); Penlee House (4); RCM (5): A member of the Trahair family, Sketch of a Horse and Cart, Sketch of Cows with Parasol and Easel, Three Cows in a Field, Two Cows in a Field
exhibitions
NAG 1895, Opening; RA 1885-93; SS; NWS; BIR (53); L (11); M; RBA (10); RI (6); ROI; Whitechapel (2)
Penlee House, 29 Nov 2008 - 14 Mar 2009: A Village in Focus: Mousehole, A Village in Focus: Newlyn
Sales at Penzance Auction House, W H Lane & Barnes Thomas Auctions 2005-10
memberships
NSA,
misc further info
references
Bednar
Benezit
Census 1891
Cross Shining Sands
C Fox Painting in Newlyn 1900-1930; (1993) Stanhope Forbes & the Newlyn School
M Hardie (1995) 100 Years/Diary; (2009) Artists/Newlyn & West Cornwall p283, Col pl (Woman mending nets)
Holmes Artistic Tradition
Johnson & Greutzner
Newton et al Painting at the Edge
Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly: Oil Paintings in Public Ownership illus p215
RA Pictures 1893 (Illus)
Whitechapel Exh Cat (repr Hardie 2009)
C Wood Victorian Painters