 Norman Garstin (1847 - 1926) "Portrait of a Breton Fisherman" Oil on canvas, 16" x 10" Norman Garstin was born in County Limerick in 1847. At a young age, due to ill health he was sent to live on the Channel Islands, but returned to Ireland frequently on holidays, where he spent his time hunting and painting. His family encouraged him to enter professional life and he first studied engineering in Cork, before moving to London to study architecture.
Seeking his fortune, he moved to Kimberley in South Africa, for two years, where he spent his time mining for diamonds. He then entered the newspaper business, and founded the Cape Times newspaper with Cecil Rhodes. On returning to Ireland, he was subsequently injured in a riding accident and lost the sight in one eye. Ironically it was then that he made the choice to become an artist. In 1880 he travelled to Antwerp and studied under the artist, Charles Verlat, for two years. In Antwerp, it is quite likely that he would have met other Irish artists such as Joseph Malachy Kavanagh and Walter-Osborne who were also studying there at that time. He then moved to Paris, where he continued his studies at the atelier of the painter Carolus Duran and where he met the Impressionist painters Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas. He wrote enthusiastically of Manet's paintings as early as 1884 describing them as exuding "a delicious brightness and happiness ..He lets in light and air. Pictures like his later ones amongst the brown bitumen canvases of the average exhibition seem like patches of sunlight on a prison wall" He first exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin in 1883 with a painting entitled "Birds Nesting", which he sent from Paris. During the years that he lived in Paris, he travelled extensively visiting Italy, Spain and North Africa. He then married and moved to England, settling in Newlyn in Cornwall, where he became an eloquent spokesman for the Newlyn School of Art. In 1890 he moved with his family to Penzance, where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1892 he recorded the opening of the Canadian Pacific Railway, sending back illustrations to the Art Journal. He also supported himself by holding annual summer schools of painting in northern France and by writing articles for various art magazines, including The Studio. During his career, he contributed a total of thirty four paintings to the annual exhibitions at the Royal Hibernian Academy. In 1904 he was one of the artists chosen by Hugh Lane for a major Irish art exhibition, which was held at the Guildhall in London. Also, that same year he held a watercolour exhibition, entitled "In Border Lands" at the Fine Art Society, London showing landscapes from Normandy, Brittany and Holland. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Ridley Art Club in London and at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool. His final contribution to the Royal Hibernian Academy was a painting entitled "The Sarine" which was exhibited there in 1916. His paintings are now housed in many important collections, including the National Gallery of Ireland, the Tate Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Comments are closed.
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