Goodbye! Off To Skibbereen, 1901, Stanhope Alexander Forbes

Stanhope Alexander Forbes
Goodbye! Off To Skibbereen, 1901

Unframed, 40 x 30 cm – €55

Stanhope Alexander Forbes (1857 – 1947) was a leading artist of the ‘Newlyn School’ of painters which flourished in Cornwall between 1880 and 1920. The longest lived and, probably, most widely exhibited of the artists at that time, Forbes was affectionately known as ‘Father of the Newlyn School’. He was born in Dublin, where his father was manager of the Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland.

His most prolific period of painting was the early 1900s, and his canvas Goodbye! – Off To Skibbereen was produced around 1901. The original painting was exhibited for some time in the Penlee Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall – which has the most comprehensive collection of the work of the Newlyn Artists.

The subject is fishing: the boats are setting out from Newlyn – Britain’s largest fishing port – to follow the shoals of pilchard and herring to the south west coast of Ireland and, particularly, Roaringwater Bay, West Cork.

In 2017, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre acquired an engraved print of Goodbye! – Off To Skibbereen, dated 1901 and this etching is included in West Meets West, the exhibition at Uillinn of the work of contemporary Cornish artists (3 June to 8 July 2017).

Fine Art Archival Pigment print on 270gsm cotton rag paper