Hurst Balmford (1871-1950)
"The Battery on the Island Cornwall, St Ives"
Signed, with original inscribed artist's label verso, oil on canvas board, 39.5cm by 50cm

Born in Huddersfield, Hurst Balmford studied at the Royal College of Art and at Academie Julian in Paris in 1898. Initially an architect, Balmford was an art master at Morecambe School of Art where he later became Headmaster. He began exhibiting in 1914 and achieved early success with 'The Jetty, Polperro' at the Royal Academy in 1917, while living in Great Eccleston, Lancashire. From 1924 to 1937 he spent a great deal of time in Cornwall, with a studio in St Ives for much of the late 1920s and early 1930s. During this time, he became a member of the St Ives Society of Artists and exhibited in Newlyn and annually at the Royal Academy. His fascination for Cornish coastlines and harbours is evident from his numerous oils and watercolours of this subject matter. Balmford’s impressionist style attracts a number of collectors and his paintings hang in the public collections of Grundy Art Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery and Lancaster Maritime Museum.