ARMSTRONG, John (1893-1978) Hayle Gallery Cornwall, Cornish Art

The town of Hayle now easily boasts more traditional Cornish art than any other town in the county. Just a small distance apart, Hayle Gallery and Alan Coombe Fine Art have over 300 paintings on display.

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The purpose of the Cornwall Artists Index is to preserve and make accessible the invaluable history of the art and artists of Cornwall. The index is an invaluable and ever-growing database of artists known to have worked in the county.

From Newlyn to Lamorna

From Newlyn to Lamorna is an exhibition of paintings by artists associated with the early Newlyn School and pre-WW1 Lamorna Group. The exhibition is a collaboration between two galleries and will be "fluid" as paintings will be changed during the show. One of the highlights is a series of Lamorna paintings by Eric Ward, one of Cornwall's leading contemporary artists.

29th March to 27th July 2013

Categories --> All Artists A-Z --> ARMSTRONG, John (1893-1978)

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John Armstrong (1893-1975) Painter of imaginative subjects, designer of film and stage sets, mural painter and book illustrator. Born 14 November 1893 at Hastings, Sussex. Studied at St John's College, Oxford, 1912–13, and at St John's Wood School of Art 1913–14. Served in the Royal Field Artillery 1914–19 and returned to St John's Wood School for a short period after the war. First one-man exhibition at the Leicester Galleries 1928. Member of Unit One 1933, and his work then began to be Surrealist in character. Painted murals for the ceiling of Bristol Council Chamber 1956 and Shell Mex House. His theatrical décor includes designs for Riverside Nights, Macbeth and Measure for Measure (Old Vic); Magic Flute (Sadler's Wells Opera Company); the ballet Facade; and films produced by Sir Alexander Korda: Henry VIII, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Rembrandt, etc. Official War Artist 1940–5.
In 1945, Armstrong moved to Oriental Cottage, Lamorna in Cornwall, which was a cottage belonging to his second wife, Veronica Sibthorpe. He remained engaged in painting surrealist murals for the London stage which he had been successful with, both for stage and film. Special friends were Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton. In Cornwall he joined with John Tunnard, Peter Lanyon and others irritated by the division of art into categories of figurative and non-figurative by the Penwith Society, and began to show his work at Newlyn Art Gallery, becoming a re-invigorating force within the Newlyn Society of Artists which they all joined. Armstrong served on the organising Committee of the Newlyn Society of Artists until 1955 when he resigned from both the Society and the Committee, due to leaving Cornwall.
Armstrong was made an Associate of the RA in 1966. He also painted murals for the Royal Marsden Hospital. Precise but muted in colour, his symbolist qualities are keynotes of his style, and always his work was abstract, upon occasion surrealist. In 1989, a painting by John Armstrong, from the Permanent Collection of Newlyn Art Gallery, Veronica as Harlequin, was chosen for the Cornwall County Council Exhibition, 'A Century of Art in Cornwall 1889-1989' in which 140 paintings executed in Cornwall over the 100 year period were shown. The painting had been given to Newlyn Art Gallery by Frankie Freeth, another artist who had served with Armstrong on the Newlyn Art Gallery committee, and a close friend and partner to his ex-wife Veronica.

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