St. Ives Society of Artists

The Society was formed by members of the St. Ives Arts Club in 1927 as a result of a meeting held the previous year when a proposal had been put forward by George Fagan Bradshaw and Herbert Truman that a society should be established to further the interests and promote the work of the many artists living in the St. Ives area. The local number 5 Porthmeor Studios, formerly used by Julius Olsson, was purchased to provide an exhibiting gallery, and among those who agreed to become honorary members of the new Society were Adrian Stokes, Arnesby Brown, Moffat Lindner, Julius Olsson, Algernon Talmage and Stanhope Forbes. Lindner was elected the first President. With the arrival of the modernists at the outset of war in 1939, considerable friction developed between them and the traditionalist members of the Society. In 1949, this resulted in a split and the formation by the modernists of the Crypt Group - later to become the Penwith Society. The main Society holds an annual exhibition of new works by its members in the old Mariners Church (with the Crypt Group using as its name suggests the Crypt of the church). Its galleries are open to visitors from March to November and also over the Christmas period.