The Norman Cornish retrospective at the Bowes Museum, Co. Durham.
We’re truly honoured to be holding the first major retrospective exhibition of works by a North East artist who’s one of the most respected and best loved of the 20th Century.
Norman Cornish: The Definitive Collection, celebrates the centenary of the acclaimed County Durham artist’s work and opens almost 100 years to the day of his birth in Spennymoor.
Visitors will be able to see more than 60 of his works, some of which haven’t been shown publicly before. They’ll include drawings, pastels and oil paintings from both public and private collections and form the most comprehensive collection of his work ever assembled that tells the captivating story of his enduring career.
Norman Stansfield Cornish (18 November 1919 – 1 August 2014) was an English mining artist.
Cornish was the last surviving member of the “Pitman’s Academy” art school at the Spennymoor Settlement in County Durham in North East England. A former miner, he was known for his pictures of mining community life. Other artistic contemporaries of Cornish from the Spennymoor Settlement included Herbert Dees, Robert Heslop and Tom McGuinness.
Cornish started work as a miner in 1933, at the age of 14. He continued to work as a miner even after his painting career was established, until he retired as a miner and became a full-time artist in 1966.
Cornish was granted an honorary Master of Arts degree by Newcastle University in 1974, and an honorary doctorate by Sunderland University in 2012. He was a contemporary and friend of the artist L. S. Lowry.
He was married to Sarah. They had two children, John and Ann.