Copperwork in Cornwall

Fishing in Newlyn as elsewhere was an unreliable source of income and the hardships suffered by the people were of concern to the local artists.  The community had always supplemented its income with crafts connected with seafaring but the influence of several artists, together with the financial support of T. B. Bolitho, the Liberal MP, led to the establishment of organised craft tuition in the village and, in time, a self-supporting repoussé metalwork industry.

Much of the influence for this came from the Arts and Crafts Movement which was concerned with the notion of “the dignity of manual work” and the promotion and preservation of craftsmanship in the face of increasing industrialisation in the late 19^th Century.

John Drew MacKenzie is credited with being the instigator of the Newlyn copper industry.  He arrived in 1888 as a painter and illustrator and in 1890 founded the Newlyn Industrial Class, instructing local people in metalwork; enamelling and embroidery classes were run by the painter Reginald Dick and his wife.  Other artists involved in the project were T. C. Gotch and Percy Craft.

The Industrial Class was enriched by the contribution of John Pearson, a skilled artist and designer who was invited to Newlyn in 1892 to teach at the school.  He had previously worked with William de Morgan producing decorative tiles, the patterns of which were later reproduced in his copperwork designs.  With C. R. Ashbee he had been a founding member of The Guild of Handicraft at Whitechapel, London.  His techniques and skills greatly influenced MacKenzie and his associates.  However, it was MacKenzie who was largely responsible for what has become known as Newlyn Copper, designing patterns associated with the village and its industries in a naturalistic style which has much in common with the spirit of the painting of the Newlyn School.

In 1895 the new Newlyn Art Gallery was graced with a façade decorated by Philip Hodder of The Industrial Class and in 1899 their work was exhibited in the Albert Hall by the Home Arts and Industries Association.