Inspired by the realist style of painting prevalent in France at the time, this celebrated artists’ colony documented the lives of the local fishing and farming communities, eloquently telling their stories with beauty and honesty that still touches the heart today.
Over a century later, retired farmer David Bowerman CBE (1936-2020) combined his passions for music and art by creating a charity in West Sussex that holds a nationally important collection of Newlyn School paintings. Works from this collection are regularly lent to Museums and Galleries throughout the country, and, as now, are also shown here, in the Trust’s purpose-built Music Room that hosts concerts by outstanding musicians.
This exhibition of 40 works includes paintings by ‘father’ and ‘queen’ of the Newlyn School, Stanhope and Elizabeth Forbes; pioneering watercolourist Walter Langley, and perhaps Britain’s best-loved 20th century woman artist, Dame Laura Knight.
It is being previewed at Champs Hill before going on a national tour that will be launched at Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance, in October 2026, and then travels to Nottingham Castle Museum; the Munnings Museum, Dedham; the Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead; Worcester City Art Gallery, and the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, where the tour ends in September 2028.
EXHIBTION DATES
| Champs Hill | September 2026 |
| Penlee House, Penzance: | October 2026 – January 2027 |
| Nottingham Castle Museum | January – May 2027 |
| Munnings Museum, Dedham | May – September 2027 |
| Worcester Museum & Art Gallery | September 2027 – January 2028 |
| Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead | January – May 2028 |
| Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle | September 2028 |
This touring exhibition is being made possible through the generous sponsorship of the Jenna Burlingham Gallery in Kingsclere, a destination for buyers and sellers of Modern British and Contemporary paintings, prints, sculpture and ceramics.
The exhibition also marks the publication of a major new monograph, ‘The Art of the Newlyn School’, written by Alison Bevan BEM and published by Sansom & Company in October 2026, in which all the works in the exhibition will be illustrated. Copies may be pre-ordered at a special discount price of £25 (RRP £30) using the code CHAMPS at www.bit.ly/NewlynBook
