Garnier, Geoffrey Sneyd

Biography

Geoffrey Sneyd Garnier ARWA (1889 – 1970)

Son of the author Russel Garnier, Geoffrey was born in Wigan and educated at Charterhouse.  He studied engineering in London before going to work in Toronto as an engineer.  While in Canada, he decided to become an artist, and in order to fund this career change he tried his luck at Gold prospecting in the Yukon.

Garnier returned to England in 1910 to study at the School of Painting in Bushey, Hertfordshire, following which he came to Newlyn to study at Stanhope Forbes’ School of Painting.  On the outbreak of War, he enlisted in the Army but was shortly discharged with a duodenal ulcer.

In 1915, Garnier’s first cousin, Jill Blyth, came to study at the Forbes School; the couple fell in love and married in 1917.  They set up home at Orchard Cottage, Newlyn, which became the venue for many lively gatherings of the Newlyn and Lamorna artists.

Garnier shared a studio at Trewarveneth with R.C. Weatherby.  His primary medium was etching and engraving in which he was largely self-taught, but his proficiency was widely acclaimed and he gave etching lessons to ‘Lamorna’ Birch in the 1920s.

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