31st Mar, 2026 10:00
Modern and Contemporary Art
130
Harold Harvey (British, 1874-1941)
'Blowing Dandelions'
signed 'Harold. Harvey' l.r., oil on canvas
47 x 42cm; framed 58 x 53cm
Provenance:With Richard Green, London.
Footnote:While many of the artists traditionally associated with the Newlyn School were drawn to the area from other locales, Harold Harvey was a Cornishman by birth. He studied at the Académie Julian from 1894-6, but on his return to the Cornish countryside he rarely left the region. His emersion in the landscape, culture and people gave him a very particular lens on which to depict the subjects which were favoured by other Newlyn artists such as Stanhope Forbes, the coastal landscape and the realities of life for the local fishing and farming communities. Harvey took up this mantle and was particularly adept at sensitively depicting humble Cornish life, from villagers bringing horses to water, to fishermen setting out from the harbour, to weary farmers feeding the lambs, and his works never dip into the sentimentality seen in many Victorian depictions of the same subjects.
Like the majority of the Newlyn School painters, Harvey favoured painting en-plein air, and would have seen elder artists from the group scattered about the countryside in his youth. The best of his works showcase the colour and incredible light which makes Cornwall so popular with artists. His work straddles the first and second generation of Newlyn artists, and he was particularly close to Laura Knight, who moved to Cornwall in 1907. The fluidity, crisp expressiveness and bold use of colour in many of his works betray this latter influence and an embrace of modernity.
A subject he particularly favoured was that of Cornish children, engaged in the adventures of childhood. In the present work he depicts two young girls, bathed in sunlight, surrounded by lush greenery and growth, one amusing the other by blowing away the seeds of a dandelion, an enduring childish diversion. They sit atop a softly rolling hill, the landscape stretching out behind them. In works such as these, Harvey presents a simpler simple vision of childhood, one that seemed at threat in the increasingly modern world.
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Sold for £36,000
Condition Report
Relined. Fine craquelure. Stretcher marks to right edge. A couple of tiny specks of staining to upper right quarter. Pinhole visible upper right. A little very slight possible discolouration to sky. Ultraviolet light reveals sensitively executed retouching to areas of craquelure in the sky and hills. Some further spots of retouching upper centre and in the upper corners. Further isolated specks and small spots elsewhere.
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Auction: Modern and Contemporary Art, 31st Mar, 2026
Viewing
Stansted Viewing | Auction
Viewing will be held at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE, as follows:
Friday 27 March, 10am - 4pm
Sunday 29 March, 10am - 1pm
Monday 30 March, 10am - 4pm
All lots are, however, extensively illustrated and carry detailed condition reports - see 'Condition report' at the foot of each lot description.
The auction will take place at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE.
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