Tate St Ives Cornwall

UK Museums: Tate St. Ives, St. Ives, Cornwall

Tate St. Ives, St. Ives

Jake Davies

The Tate St. Ives art gallery must have one of the best views of any art gallery in the world. It is situated overlooking Porthmeor Beach and the rolling surf of the Cornish coast.

St. Ives has been an artist colony for more than a century and this modern gallery is now a major attraction in this tourist town.

History

Tate is a collection of four galleries and began life as the National Gallery of British Art in 1897.

It became known as the Tate Gallery in 1932 after the sugar magnate Henry Tate whose art collection became the foundation of the gallery.

It is now known as Tate Britain and displays British art from the 1500s to the present day.

Probably the most famous Tate gallery is Tate Modern opened in 2000 and housed in the former Bankside Power Station on the River Thames.

It is one of the biggest museums of modern art in the whole world. Outside London, Tate Liverpool opened in 1988 and displays modern art from around the world.

In 1980 the Tate took over the management of the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Garden in St. Ives and shortly thereafter began plans to build a new gallery in the town.

One of the galleries at Tate St. Ives, Cornwall. — One of the galleries at Tate St. Ives, Cornwall

Artists Colony in St. Ives

Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson moved to St. Ives in 1939 and were among a group of British and European artists, notably Naum Gabo, who settled there to escape the war and stayed on afterwards.

Joining an already established art colony in the town, notable artists were Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon, Bernard Leach, and Alfred Wallace.

The colony continued to grow in the second half of the 20th century with artists such as Bryan Wynter, Peter Lanyon, Roger Hilton, Terry Frost, Ray Atkins, and Wilhemina Barns-Graham.

Collection

The Tate already had many works by these artists in their collection so it was a logical next step to build a gallery to show them. Tate St. Ives opened in 1993 in a purpose built building overlooking the beach. The gallery's success greatly exceeded expectation and between 2015 and 2017 it was expanded to include double the exhibition space.

Tate St. Ives has an ever-changing series of themed exhibitions that usually, but most certainly not always, have a connection with the artists of St. Ives.

There is a gift shop with related products and books, and a top floor cafe serving food and drink overlooking the sea.

Entrance vestibule to Tate St. Ives, Cornwall. — Entrance vestibule to Tate St. Ives, Cornwall

Access - Getting to the Tate St. Ives

Porthmeor Beach
St. Ives TR26 1TG
Tel: 01736 79 6226
www: tate.org.uk/visit/tate-st-ives

See website for opening times and prices.

St. Ives Station is the nearest railway station to the Tate St. Ives. Most trains to St. Ives run from St. Erth, which has train services to Penzance and Plymouth.

From London Paddington there are trains to St Ives via Reading, Exeter, Plymouth, Bodmin, Truro, St Erth and Penzance.

From Victoria Coach Station in London there are coaches via Heathrow Airport, Plymouth, Liskeard, St Austell, Truro, Redruth, Camborne and St Ives and then on to Penzance.

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