The History of Cullercoats through Art

Cullercoats was a small fishing village, up the coast from the mouth of the Tyne. It's pictorial possibilities were discovered in the 1820's by artists from Newcastle, particularly Henry Perlee Parker and John Wilson Carmichael. They drew and painted the fishermen and fishwives of Cullercoats, an views along the coast with townspeople taking the air. (John Millard, 'A romance with the North East' 1992, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne)
Artists at Cullercoats
In past years, many artists of renown lived and worked in the village. America's greatest painter Winslow Homer (1836 - 1910) originally a rural painter, became a seascape painter because of the time he spent in Cullercoats from 1881 - 1882. While at Cullercoats, he stayed in room 17 at the Hudleston Arms ( later renamed the 'Bay Hotel'). He used as a studio a room in the house 12 Bank Top later* occupied by Miss Carrick, the daughter of Thomas Carrick,who for his skill as a miniature painter and his invention of painting his portraits on marble instead of ivory, gained a considerable reputation during the earlier part of the Victorian era.
John Charlton, famous for his pictures of the hunting field, resided for some months in 1889 at 44 Beverley Terrace - his first acquaintance with Cullercoats dated back to 1852 and he frequently stayed in the village in the following years. His artistic work done in Cullercoats was chiefly in black and white. During one of his visits, he received a commission from Queen Victoria to paint ' The Jubilee Procession of Princes Passing Through Trafalger Square'.
In the Exhibition of the Arts Association in 1878, there was a picture 'The Coxswain of the Cullercoats Life-Boat on the Look-out' by Agnes Pringle of Cullercoats, a student at the Newcastle School of Art, whose work was seen in the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colours, and the Royal Society of British Artists. This lady left Cullercoats for Australia.
Captain John Robert Mather, a watercolour painter of considerable merit, resided at 49 Beverley Terrace for some years. He died there aged 45 years on February 12th 1879 and is buried at Whitley.
Henry Hetherington Emmerson (1831 - 1895), when aged 39 years moved to 16 John Street (re-numbered in the 1920's) with his wife Mary, five daughters three sons, and a female servant. His son, Henry Bewick Emmerson, who also became a painter, later lived at 18 John Street.

Some of the other artists who painted at Cullercoats were:

Robert Jobling (1841 - 1923)
Isa Thompson (1850 - 1926)
John Falconer Slater (1857 - 1937)
Bernard Benedict Hemy (1845 - 1913)
Thomas Miles Richardson (1784 - 1848)
Ralph Hedley (1848 - 1913)
John Wilson Carmichael (1799 - 1848)
Myles Birket Foster (1825 - 1899)
Thomas Swift Hutton (1865 - 1935)
Victor Noble Rainbird (1889 - 1936)
George Edward Horton (1859 - 1950)
Henry Perlee Parker (1795-1873)

Extract from: 'Cullercoats Remembered' author: Cullercoats Local History Society (2003)

* Miss Carrick moved into 12 Bank Top after Winslow Homer returned to America - Homer's Choice, S.Ratcliffe, 2003

Frederick William Reaveley (1870 - 1950) - 'Whatever critical acclaim was awarded to his work, F.W.Reaveley was certainly financially able to maintain his own studio, which was situated in Back Beverley Terrace, Cullercoats'.

Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne