Gifts Given

This Christmas, while most people are thinking of what gifts to give to their loved-ones, Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Penzance is celebrating the gifts (donations and bequests) of fine and decorative art it has received on behalf of the public.  

Over the years, the generosity of numerous individuals has enabled a stunning collection of items to become public property, cared for and exhibited at Penlee House.  Even the Gallery’s two most famous works – The Rain it Raineth Every Day by Norman Garstin and School is Out by Elizabeth Forbes – were gifts to the people of Penzance, the first from the artist and the second from the artist’s niece. 

In recent years, one benefactor alone – George Bednar – has given around 40 works to the collections, including paintings by Stanhope Forbes, Frank Bramley, Laura Knight, Fred Millard, Edwin Harris and Gwendoline Hopton and seven drypoint engravings by Elizabeth Forbes.   He is no millionaire, and these gifts were paid for from his hard-earned wages, purely for the joy of sharing the art he loves with others: one bears the touching dedication ‘in memory of all those who have made my life worthwhile’, another – a charming painting of a sleeping donkey by Fred Hall – says ‘this one is for the children’.

Other gifts and bequests have included works ranging from pictures by Newlyn School painters such as Harold Harvey, Garstin Cox, Ruth Simpson and Garnet Wolseley, through to paintings by 20^th Century and contemporary artists such as John Miller, Kurt Jackson, Bob Vigg, John Piper and Donald Swan.  Many items have been given anonymously, but some have intriguing or poignant dedications attached, which we hope visitors will enjoy reading.  ‘Gifts Given’ runs from 1 December 2007 to 12 January 2008 and as a gift back to the visiting public, admission to Penlee House will be FREE throughout this exhibition, so come along to enjoy the art that YOU – the public – own!