Harold Harvey 1874-1941

Unlike any of the other artists in Newlyn, Harold Harvey was local man. He was born in Cornwall, the son of a bank manager from Penzance and lived for most of his life in Cornwall. He was taught to paint and draw by Norman Garstin and also studied at the Academie Julian in Paris under the French Academic painters Constant and Laurens. After a brief time back in Penzance, he married and moved to Newlyn where he and his wife enjoyed a simple and happy life.

Like Lamorna Birch, Harvey liked fishing and painting in almost equal measure and also adored children (although he had none of his won). Like Laura and Harold Knight, many of Harvey’s best work depict children and After the Swim is a charming example of youthful contentment under a summer sun. The picture recalls Henry Scott Tuke’s male nudes by the sea, but without the sensuality and less academic. Another similar painting is The Boys of 1909 by Laura Knight (Johannesburg Art Gallery) depicting a crowd of bathers on the shoreline. The two pictures differ greatly in size and composition but the pathos of the casual, unaffected relaxation of children by the sea is the same.