Entitled A Life in Sketchbooks, this exhibition at the Bowes Museum runs until 3rd January 2027. It follows on from another exhibition of his work, Kith and Kinship, which also included works by LS Lowry, at the same location two years ago. Based on the 269 sketch books he used while out on the streets during his lifetime, it is a fascinating insight into the industrial north east of England before de-industrialisation so radically altered the urban landscape for ever.
Born in Spennymoor in 1919, Norman Cornish worked as a coal
miner from the age of fourteen, whilst simultaneously developing his
distinctive artistic style, with which he recorded the community he grew up in.
His work is very evocative; stressing characterful personalities and their inter-relationships,
communicating a jostling, physical mutual support and that feeling of
camaraderie and intimacy that so typifies the former mining areas. He also
paints the urban landscape itself, which already seems to be a world away, even
to those of us who can remember it well, as we looked on from the outside.
I’m somewhat ambivalent about Bowes Museum, itself, which we have visited a number of times. On the one hand, I really like their smaller gallery temporary exhibitions like this one on Norman Cornish. They are clearly laid out, clearly explained, thoughtfully lit and manageable in terms of available time. The cafĂ©, too, is way, way above average. I find the whole presence of the place so cavernous and overbearing, though, and the large hall which is full of classical paintings from head to foot - and it’s a very tall room, seems to me to be just not the way to show off works of art, assuming, of course, that they are worth showing off in the first place. Nevertheless, I’ll keep a look out for future exhibitions. Its not far off the A66, which seems to have become a very familiar route to the hills for us over the years.
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