Sea Painter

In the early years of the 20th century a talented group of artists came together in the adjacent fishing villages of Staithes and Runswick. They called themselves the Staithes Group, a loose association that for several years held annual exhibitions, initially in Staithes and then in nearby Whitby. The founding secretary of the Group was Joseph Bagshawe, whose maternal grandfather, Clarkson Stanfield, was one of the great marine artists of the 19th century. Every year in August Judge Bagshawe took his family on holiday to Whitby. Joseph discovered Staithes and, like so many other artists, was captivated by the village, the fisherfolk, their boats and the changing moods of the sea and for the rest of his tragically short life (he died, aged only 39, in 1909) Staithes was the main, but not the exclusive, focus of his art. 17 of his paintings were accepted by the Royal Academy and 43 by the Royal Society of British Artists, of which he was a member. Some of his best works were free-flowing, impressionistic watercolours, commissioned by Raphael Tuck, the leading postcard publisher.