Sir Francis Barry

It was recently suggested to me I should take a look at an artist unknown to me, Sir Francis Barry, Third Baronet of St Leonard's Hill and Keiss Castle. Now that is a mouthful. Would that he had had the other title in the family, Baron de Barry of Portugal, which rolls from the tongue more elegantly. I'm glad I did look at his work, although even after several weeks I remain a little nonplussed. I have sat down and read a book, but it was the sort of book that left me none the wiser. It is based on correspondence found in a briefcase after Barry's death and conversations with his descendants and yet it so full of gaps as to be barely there at all.

So what can we say with confidence? He was born in 1888, his young years featured domestic difficulties and he became a painter against the wishes of his family. He spent years in Cornwall and in mainland Europe and as a painter prioritised colour above all else, claiming Matisse as his major influence. He spent many years working as an etcher and this shows in the graphic simplicity of his paintings. At different times his work shows the influence of the Newlyn and St Ives painters (at which time he was associated with the Royal Academy), the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, the Pointillists and the Fauves, even the Surrealists and de Chirico. So I guess he drifted on the tide of fashion to a degree as many artists did at this time; it is difficult to know as the chronology of his work is unclear and his early work missing. What I take to be his mature style is full of colour in simple rhythmic compositions. It is at times almost psychedelic although, since he painted until the late 60's, it is impossible to know if he foreshadowed this or reacted to its rise.

Anyway, a perplexing mixture of pictures, with no indication of date or scale to be found: