Singing from the Walls

The Newlyn artist Elizabeth Forbes (1859–1912) for long suffered the fate of women artists of her generation, living in the shadow of her husband, Stanhope Forbes. This first major study of her life and work gives a more rounded view of this fine artist and moving spirit in the Newlyn artist colony. In her most characteristic work, her studies of children and domestic interiors, she is clearly a match for her male colleagues painting their more grimly realistic depictions of life in the Cornish fishing community. Elizabeth was central to the cultural and artistic life of the area, running with her husband the celebrated Newlyn School of Painting.