Visit Penlee House & Museum

Penlee House is a gallery, museum, cafe and shop. Situated within Penlee Park, a space to reflect and great for family visits.

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A space for exhibitions & events

Alongside our Exhibition programme we run a variety of community events and workshops. The Newlyn School and Social history galleries change often. Find out what’s on.

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A space to learn

Penlee House is committed to lifelong learning. We run workshops for all age groups and offer a school workshop programme.

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A space for all

Built in 1865, as the home of the Branwell family. Penlee House is home to many paintings by members of the Newlyn School. It is also home to the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society collection.

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You can search and browse our collections online. We also have a section dedicated to the Newlyn School.

Oil painting

Acc.no: NELNG : 1991.7


Identification

Item: Veronica as Clown

Description: Portrait of the artist's third wife, Veronica (nee Sibthorp). John Armstrong was a well known artist and film designer whose work flourished between 1930 and 1960. After the war he lived at Oriental Cottage in Lamorna with his third wife Veronica (nee Sibthorp). Until 1955, his imagination was fuelled by the power of the wartime bombing and as an Air Raid warden he had particular insights into the violence of bombing and both the fragility and stupidity of the human condition. A series of paintings appeared after the war, during the period that atom bombs were being developed, which used the clown motif to describe mankind and the ragged umbrella as a symbol of the futility of so called defences.


Description

Height: 635 mm

Width: 500 mm


Production

Date: 1950

Person: Armstrong, John, A.R.A.


Category: Fine Art

If you are interested in learning more about this item please contact us and reference "NELNG : 1991.7"

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Penlee House is a beautiful art gallery and museum, set within sub-tropical gardens, with a great café.

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