Alethea Garstin

{{Short description|British landscape painter (1894–1978)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Alethea Garstin | honorific_suffix = | image =  | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1894|06|01|df=y}} | birth_place = Penzance | baptised =  | death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|01|23|1894|06|01|df=y}} | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | nationality = | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | father = | mother = | relatives = | family = | awards =  | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website =  | module = }}

'''Alethea Garstin''' (1894–1978) was a Cornish artist and illustrator who exhibited paintings regularly at London's Royal Academy from an early age.

==Life and work== Garstin was born in Penzance, Cornwall on 1 June 1894, the daughter of painter Norman Garstin and his wife Louisa, and the younger sister of the writer Crosbie Garstin. She was trained as a painter by her father, and joined him on his trips round France on his bicycle.<ref name=ODNB>{{cite ODNB|id=40916|title=Garstin, Norman (1847–1926), landscape and genre painter|last1=Baskervyle-Glegg |first1=Diana|year=2004}}</ref><ref name=DBWA>{{Citation|author=Gray, Sara |title=The Dictionary of British Women Artists |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LfAFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 |year=2009 |publisher=The Lutterworth Press |pages=113–114 |isbn=978-0-7188-3084-7 }}</ref> She first exhibited a painting, ''"The Chairmakers"'', at the Royal Academy in 1912<ref name=WBCA1912>{{cite news|title=Penzance Child Artist's Picture At The Academy |url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000349%2f19120516%2f104 |work=West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser |date=16 May 1912 |page=7 |via=British Newspaper Archive |accessdate=19 October 2015}} The article claims she is "probably the youngest painter to exhibit in the famous galleries at Burligton(sic) House" and "is not yet thirteen years old" (though this conflicts with her stated year of birth in other sources).</ref> and the president of the Royal Academy was so impressed that he asked to meet her.<ref name=ODNB/> She also displayed a much larger painting of the Market Place at Gemene, Brittany, the following year.<ref>{{cite news|title=Royal Academy And Other Pictures |url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000331%2f19130320%2f019 |work=Cornishman |date=20 March 1913 |page=3 |via=British Newspaper Archive |accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>

Garstin later created illustrations for magazines including ''Punch'' and ''Tatler''.<ref name=DBWA /> She continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy until 1945 and was elected as a Member of the Royal West of England Academy in 1949.<ref name=DBWA />

==Notable exhibitions== Garstin's works were considered tonal and she was able to contrast temperature with different colours and tones.<ref name=ODNB /> Her best known exhibitions include the Adams Gallery, Pall Mall, London in 1940 which was a solo exhibition of over 60 paintings, highlights being ''"Penzance Promenade"'' and ''"Penzance Harbour"''. The ''Western Morning News'' described the latter as "something of the effective simplicity and artistic economy of selection that the best modern French paintings have."<ref>{{cite news|title=Our London Letter: Clever Penzance Artist |url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000329%2f19400507%2f013 |work=Western Morning News |date=7 May 1940 |page=2 |via=British Newspaper Archive |accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref>

In the United Services Centre, Plymouth in 1945, where Garstin put on a joint exhibition with Newlyn painter Gertrude Harvey.<ref>{{cite news|title=City Exhibition: Newlyn and Penzance Artists |url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000329%2f19450707%2f002 |work=Western Morning News |date=7 July 1945 |page=2 |via=British Newspaper Archive |accessdate=19 October 2015}}</ref> and she put on a joint exhibition with her father's works entitled ''Norman and Alethea Garstin. Two Impressionists - Father and Daughter'', Newlyn,<ref name=DBWA /> Bristol, Dublin and London in 1978.<ref>[http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/garstin-the-bull-hotel-burford-t03165/text-catalogue-entry Norman Garstin: The Bull Hotel, Burford], Tate Gallery. Retrieved 19 October 2015.</ref>

==Public collections== Paintings by Garstin are currently in the Government Art Collection and the collections of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, the Royal West of England Academy and the National Trust.<ref>{{Art UK bio|retrieved=19 October 2015}}</ref>

==References== {{Portal|Cornwall}} {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garstin, Alethea}} Category:1894 births Category:1978 deaths Category:20th-century English painters Category:Painters from Cornwall Category:People from Penzance Category:20th-century English women painters