I do feel quite privileged (perhaps?) to own this very old James Lanham bottle ( it has still got a tiny drain of something inside it and is corked), because of his connection to both the St Ives and the Newlyn Art Schools.
If I had to pick, I think I actually prefer the Newlyn Art School to the St Ives Art School, because of the gritty pictures of fishermen and boats. The Newlyn School actually shows that there were lots of poor people about in Cornwall and the whole business of fishing and other connected industries was to earn money for survival and to keep a roof over the fisher folk's heads.
In his book 'The Vanishment,' Jonathan Aycliffe describes the streets of St Ives, Cornwall, in winter as very bleak, cold and windswept.
This bleak part of St Ives is carefully never sold to the public as a rule. I have read countless books on St Ives and Cornwall in general, including many historical ones, but all extol the virtues of this twee tourist destination which to be honest looks ram jam fuddy in the summer - hardly a relaxing break! Some of the video's on YouTube about the area are hilarious.
Bring on something gritty, dark and meaningful about the place, other than a few shipwrecks, the odd shark, old creaking mines and a bit of surfing!
