15th Oct, 2022 9:30 GMT/BST
Modern & Contemporary Art
21
Norman Stansfield Cornish MBE (1919-2014)
"Thompson's Newsagent"
Signed, oil on board, 28cm by 45cm
Provenance: Purchased from the artist
Cornish painted the vendor's shop on Clyde Terrace, Spennymoor
Born in 1919 in Oxford Street, Spennymoor Norman Cornish began working in the mines in 1933 and not long after he was accepted as a member of the Spennymoor Settlement, at just age 15. It was here that he met the author Sid Chaplin and later fellow mining artist Tom McGuinness. The resident warden of the Settlement Bill Farrell encouraged Cornish to "paint the life he knew".
Cornish's paintings offer an insight into everyday life in Spennymoor and the mines, capturing scenes of places and an industry that no longer remain. The characters he painted are real people he knew and who belonged to the mining heritage. There was a time when Sid Chaplin expressed concerns over Norman's unvarying subject matter stating, "I've often been irritated by his seeming lack of enterprise, his lack of interest in anything but Spennymoor". However, this unerring dedication to his subject reveals and provides an intimate rendition of the industrial and social history of the North East.
Sold for £5,500
Estimated at £2,500 - £4,000
Some very light surface dirt trapped under the glass. Otherwise in good overall condition. Behind glass and not examined out of the frame.
The odd minor nick to the frame.
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Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 15th Oct, 2022
The sale includes the residual pictures from the collection of a Lady, of which the tour de force is the highly important impressionistic rendition of “The North Sea” by Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976). Other key works from the estate include two further drawings by L S Lowry “The Pond” and “Man Taken Ill”, each representing diverse periods of the artist’s oeuvre.
Further works of note include a Henry Moore bronze, "Maquette for Warrior with Shield" (1952-53), a collection of works from the family of the artist Paul Maze (1887-1979), a good selection of works by Northern artists such as Norman Cornish, Tom McGuinness, Brian Shields “Braaq”, Joe Scarborough, Peter Brook, and celebrated Modern British artists such as Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe and Montague Dawson.
Viewing
Thursday 13 October 10am-4pm, Friday 14 October 10am-5pm and morning of sale from 8am
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