Landscape at Houghton Green by Tom Cross, 1955, oil on canvas; 2ft 5in x 3ft 3in (73.5 x 99cm), £3950.
Paintings from the Artist’s Studio runs from October 14-November 6 at Belgrave St Ives, which is organising the event, and also takes place from October 14-November 2 at nearby Penwith Gallery.
Cross studied at the Slade and taught at Reading before settling in Cornwall in 1976, taking on the post of principal at Falmouth School of Art. Arguably his chief contribution to the region was the publication of his book Painting the Warmth of the Sun: St Ives Artists 1930-1975 in 1984.
Along with the three-part Channel 4 programme it inspired, the book helped re-ignite public enthusiasm for the painters and sculptors of St Ives and may have helped pave the way for the founding of the Tate Gallery in St Ives in 1993.
As well as his work in education and writing (he also published The Shining Sands: Artists in Newlyn and St Ives 1880-1930), Cross was an avid painter and continued to practise throughout his career. The exhibition includes work from all stages of his life highlighting different styles, from the landscapes and still-lifes he produced in the 1950s, to the abstract and experimental works of the 1960s-70s, back to landscape work in his later life.
