The Cornish Coast

Alex Fraser Galleries, Vancouver Private Collection, Ontario

Harold Sawkins, “Dorothea Sharp", The Artist, April 1935, page 58

Dorothea Sharp took up painting seriously at the relatively late age of twenty-one. After the death of her uncle, Sharp was able to study art at a school run by C.E. Johnson thanks to a one hundred pound inheritance. She subsequently attended the Regent Street Polytechnic where she was championed by Sir George Clausen and Sir David Murray. However, it was not until Sharp moved to Paris and studied under Castaluchio that she felt she had fully developed as an artist. Paris was also where Dorothea Sharp encountered Claude Monet, who would prove to be a lasting influence. Monet’s impact is evident in the highly impressionistic and spontaneous approach that Sharp employed in her own artistic practice. Dorothea Sharp’s first solo exhibition at the Connell Gallery in 1933 was well attended and considered a critical success. The artist’s pictures appear in numerous institutions including the Royal Academy and the Society for Women Artists, where she took on the role of President for four years. “The Cornish Coast” exemplifies the delightful world of a Dorothea Sharp painting. The loose brushwork and the bright tones pull the viewer into a warm summer’s day. The subjects relax in boats and play on the shore. The picture, as a whole, is a harmonious and cheerful scene. As Harold Sawkins explained, “the chief attractions of Miss Sharp’s delightful pictures are her happy choice of subjects, and her beautiful colour schemes. Rollicking children bathed in strong sunlight, playing in delightful surroundings, her subjects appeal because they are based on the joy of life. And she presents them equally happily, with a powerful technique which enables her to make the most of her wonderful sense of colour”.