Name: The Birmingham Boys: Walter Langley and his fellow RBSA artists in Newlyn (1880-1920)
Start: 2026-03-09T19:30:00+00:00
Location: Thornden Hall, Thornden School, Winchester Road, Chandler's Ford

The Birmingham Boys: Walter Langley and his fellow RBSA artists in Newlyn (1880-1920)

Lecturer: Alison Bevan
Birmingham watercolorist, Walter Langley is generally dubbed the pioneer of the Newlyn School, as he was the first of the group's artists to settle in the village, setting up his studio in 1882. Although an accomplished painter in oils, he mainly painted in watercolour, often on a large scale. Using this medium, he portrayed scenes of everyday life in a small fishing village, highlighting the hardships and tragedies that were commonplace during that period. He divided his time between Birmingham and Newlyn, and fellow artists of the Birmingham Art Circle, co-founded by Langley, also started to make the trek to Cornwall, including Edwin Harris, William Wainwright, William Banks Fortescue, William Breakspeare and Frank Richards.
Alison Bevan
Since graduating in History of Art from Nottingham University in 1986, Alison’s career has been focused on working and curating exhibitions in public art galleries; while at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea, she presented a weekly arts news feature on BBC Radio Wales, 1995-6.
In 1999, Alison took up the role of Director of Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance. Here she became an acknowledged expert on the Newlyn, Lamorna and St Ives artists colonies (1880-1940), a subject on which has widely lectured. For raising the profile of this area of art, she was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to cultural heritage in Cornwall.
Alison has also been Director of the Royal West of England Academy – Britain’s only regional Royal Academy of Art.
Alison now works as a freelance lecturer, curator and consultant, taking on other roles including that of Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Bristol.
Doors and the bar at Thornden Hall Arts Centre open from 18.45; talks start at 19.30 and last an hour with additional time for questions. Free for members: visitors please pay £8 on the day at the signing in desk: card only.
Image: Walter Langley (1852 - 1922); Detail from In a Cornish Fishing Village, Departure of the Fleet for the North, 1886; Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Langley Departure Art UK