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Park moved to St.
Ives at the age of 18 and became probably the best known
of the early St. Ives painters. He studied under
Julian Olsson who encouraged him to study in Paris.
From 1905 he attended the Atelier Colarossi where he was
a contemporary of Modigliani. Strongly influenced
by the French Impressionists, Park's work is always
brightly coloured and spontaneous.
He had worked in
the cotton mills of his native Lancashire throughout
much of his childhood.
Although he had no official training during his first
years painting in St. Ives, Park was fortunate enough to
meet Julius Olsson, one of the earliest arrivals among
the many painters who had settled in St. Ives towards
the end of the nineteenth century. Olsson was the
founder of the new School of Landscape and Marine
Painting which he had set up in his own studio
overlooking Porthmeor Beach.
He offered Park free tuition on account of his
willingness to learn and natural ability and within six
years of arriving in St. Ives, Park had begun exhibiting
at the Royal Academy and it was at this time, with
Olsson's guidance, that he decided to continue his
training in the ateliers of Paris.
Returning to St.
Ives in 1923, Park found the old fishing port provided
him with countless subjects among the many boats coming
and going in the busy harbour and the overlapping forms
of the fisherman's cottages rising steeply on the hill
overlooking the port. Park exhibited at the Royal
Academy from 1905 to 1949 and he was elected as a member
of the Royal Society of Oil Painters in 1923. He
was a founder member of the St. Ives Society of Artists
in 1927. With regular entries to the Paris Salon
he was awarded the Gold Medal in 1934. Park was
among a small group of professional artists who carried
on the tradition of St. Ives painting in the quiet years
between the wars.
He exhibited costal
and fishing scenes at the Royal Academy, the Paris Salon
and St. Ives Society of Artists. His work is held
in the public collections of Manchester City Art,
Salford Art Gallery and the Tate. |
