Experience Cornwall

Tate St Ives

January 30th, 2007

Tate St Ives is an art gallery in St Ives exhibiting work by modern British artists including work of the St Ives School. The three story building, designed by architects Evans and Shaleff, lies on the site of the old gas works overlooking Porthmeor Beach. It was opened to the public in 1993, the second regional gallery in the Tate Gallery network. The Tate also manages an ealier property in St Ives, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden which opened in 1980.

Recently, a new extension to the gallery has been proposed in response to the large numbers of visitors the gallery attracts with the aims of providing better education spaces and accommodating larger works of art.

Visiting Tate St Ives

The collections include the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden at Trewyn Studios with the adjacent garden which give a unique insight into the work of one of Britain’s most important twentieth-century artists.

A diary of future exhibitions at Tate St Ives is available on their web site.
Facilities include refreshments from the Tate St Ives Café which enjoys stunning views over the old town of St Ives and Porthmeor Beach. The Tate Shop which stocks a range of books, postcards and posters, often produced by local artists.

History of 20th-century art in St Ives: the ‘St Ives School’

In 1920, Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada set up a pottery in St Ives, creating the town’s first connection to international 20th-century art.

In 1928, an important meeting between Alfred Wallis, Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood started the development of north Cornwall seaside resort of St Ives as an artists’ colony.

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo settled in St Ives establishing an outpost for the abstract avant-garde movement in west Cornwall. After the war ended, a new and younger generation of artists emerged. These included Peter Lanyon, John Wells, Roger Hilton, Bryan Wynter, Patrick Heron, Terry Frost and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.

Whilst Tate St Ives seeks to preserve the history of twentieth-century art in St Ives the gallery also exhibits new work from artists working further afield. The gallery’s artist residency programme aims to develop the professional practice of artists who live and work in Cornwall.