Artwork
China Clay Works, Great Wheal Prosper, Tresayes, Roche
China Clay Works, Great Wheal Prosper, Tresayes, Roche is a watercolor work on paper by Ruskin Spear. It dates from 1940 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
China Clay Works, Great Wheal Prosper, Tresayes, Roche is a 1940 watercolour by Spear, capturing a serene landscape of Great Wheal Prosper in Roche, characterized by rolling hills, simple architecture, and distant snow-capped mountains under a soft blue sky.
Subject & Meaning
The subject is the spoil heaps of Great Wheal Prosper, depicted as pale, regularly shaped mountains dominating the landscape, subtly conveying the impact of industrial activity on the natural environment.
Technique & Style
Spear employed loose brushstrokes to evoke the texture of fields, trees, and building walls, using a warm, earthy color palette with accents of green and purple to enhance the landscape's depth and serenity.
History & Provenance
Commissioned under the Recording Britain scheme (funded by the Pilgrim Trust and administered by the Committee for the Employment of Artists in Wartime), this work aimed to preserve a record of the British landscape during WWII, overseen by Sir Kenneth Clark, Director of the National Gallery.
Context
Created amidst WWII concerns over landscape destruction and transformation, the piece reflects the scheme's broader goal of documenting national sites and scenes across England, Wales, and parts of Scotland.
Artist & collection
Artist
London painter Ruskin Spear brought the drama of daily life onto canvas. His watercolour “China Clay Works, Great Wheal Prosper, Tresayes, Roche” (c. 1940) captures the gritty, industrial stretch of Cornwall’s claypits,…
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