Having enjoyed my visits to the Tate Galleries in London and Liverpool I was looking forward to seeing the Tate in St Ives. The gallery which opened in 1993 stands above the spectacular Porthmeor Beach. It is a striking white building, unusual in shape with huge windows looking out to sea.


The idea is that this Tate Gallery is to display Cornish art. I love Cornwall and have bought several paintings and sketches by Cornish artists. However the paintings on display in September were by local artist Arthur Wallace who didn't start painting until he was in his eighties, apparently he started to paint during a period of depression after the death of his wife.

To me the depression was obvious, I found his paintings dark and dreary, they were also very childlike and consisted mainly of boats, houses and animals. The art critics call this "naive". I must admit I felt like the boy in the story of The Emperors New Clothes. There were many arty people saying how marvellous the pictures were, personally I thought they were dreadful.

The best display in the gallery for me was a selection of paintings by local primary school children, again these were of boats and sea scenes but they were vibrant and uplifting.

To sum up the Tate itself is quite stunning but make sure you what is on display before parting with the enterance fee - then again they do say that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"!