Cornwall County Council

In May 1961 Cornwall County Council received an anonymous donation of £100. Rather than merging the money into the general primary school funds as the donor had requested, a decision was made to do something more permanent and an attempt would be made to build an art collection.

Soon after artists and sculptors including John Piper, Peter Lanyon, Barbara Hepworth and the widow of Jacob Epstein were contacted in the hope that they would oblige by selling a work at a below market cost. Hepworth was particularly supportive and suggested approaching a large range of artists under her own auspices and, with the assistance of Falmouth School of Art principal Michael Finn the approaches began. Some artists refused, other complained at the low prices, but thankfully the vast majority agreed that a collection for the County schools was a grand idea. The Council doubled the budget to £200 and works were purchased at the generously low prices of between £20-£25. Some artists were more than generous and Ben Nicholson and Alethea Garstin even refused payment for their works while Hepworth actually donated a painting by Alfred Wallis.

So, over the last half-century the council have acquired arguably the finest collection of mid-twentieth century Cornish art in the county with an equally important collection of Newlyn School artists close behind. The artists include Dod and Ernest Procter, Terry Frost, Roger Hilton, John Wells, Bryan Wynter, Francis Hewlett, Lionel Miskin and Bryan Organ. Later works have been added by John Miller, Anthony Frost and Rose Hilton and generous donations have been received from Kurt Jackson, Iain Robertson and Clare Wardman.