TheNorwich school of painters was the first provincial art movement established inBritain, active in the early 19th century. Artists of the school were inspired by the natural environment of theNorfolk landscape and owed some influence to the work oflandscape painters of theDutch Golden Age such asHobbema andRuisdael.
The Norwich Society of Artists was founded in 1803 byJohn Crome andRobert Ladbrooke as a club where artists could meet to exchange ideas. Its aims were "an enquiry into the rise, progress and present state of painting, architecture, and sculpture, with a view to point out the best methods of study to attain the greater perfection in these arts." The society's first meeting was in "The Hole in the Wall" tavern; two years later it moved to premises which allowed it to offer members work and exhibition space. Its first exhibition opened in 1805, and was such a success that it became an annual event until 1825. The building was demolished but the society re-opened three years later, in 1828, as "The Norfolk and Suffolk Institution for the Promotion of the Fine Arts" at a different venue and exhibitions continued until 1833.[1]
The leading light of the movement was John Crome who attracted many friends and pupils until his death in 1821. The mantle of leadership then fell onJohn Sell Cotman, a member of the society since 1807, who continued to keep the society together until he left Norwich for London in 1834. The society effectively ceased to exist from that date.
The Norwich school's great achievement was that a small group of self-taughtworking class artists were able to paint with vitality the hinterland surrounding Norwich, assisted by meagre local patronage. Far from creatingpastiches of the Dutch 17th century, Crome and Cotman, along withJoseph Stannard, established a school of landscape painting which deserves greater fame; the broad washes of J.S. Cotman'swater-colours anticipate Frenchimpressionism.[2]
One reason the Norwich school artists are not so well known as other painters of the period, notablyConstable andTurner, is because the majority of their canvases were collected by the industrialistJ. J. Colman (ofColman's mustard fame), and have been on permanent display inNorwich Castle Museum since the 1880s.[citation needed] This lack of wider exposure was remedied in 2001, when many of the school's major works were exhibited outside Norwich for the first time at theTate Gallery, London in 2000.[3]
Mottram, R.H. (1931).John Crome of Norwich. London: John Lane The Bodley Head Limited.
Rajnai, Miklos; Stevens, Mary (1976).The Norwich Society of Artists, 1805-1833: a dictionary of contributors and their work. Norfolk Museums Service for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
Scott, Peter Kennedy (1998).A Romantic Look at Norwich School Landscapes: By a Handful of Great Little Masters.ISBN978-0-9534711-0-2.
Searle, Geoffrey R. (2015).Etchings of the Norwich School. Norwich: Lasse Press.ISBN978-0-9568758-9-1.
Walpole, Josephine (1997).Art and Artists of the Norwich School. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club.ISBN978-1-85149-261-9.
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