Penlee House, Penzance Jan21-April 16 'Through the Lens' and 'Face to Face'

 Penlee House   Harry Paul ‘Through the Lens.’ & ‘Face to Face: Portraits from Penlee’s Collection.’
Jan 21 -  April 16 2026

These two shows contrasting one man’s photography with portraits by many artists make me think of many questions about the two forms of art.
I started with the paintings - some of whose creators will have referred to photographs. Portraits take time and skill, often conversation takes place between artist and sitter. They may have informative backgrounds. Some are of named people whereas others have titles denying them even a name. One of the newest acquisitions, by Leonard Fuller, of a young woman, looking as fresh as if it was done yesterday rather than in 1930, is entitled ‘The Silver Jacket’.

 

 

 Another is called, ‘An old Jew’, by Opie, 1779, but thought to be of Rabbi Abraham Hart. Another is ‘Maroon and Gold’ by Ruth Simpson.
Walter Langley uses his picture of Grace Kelynack, an old lady,1883, to bring us a poetic title that makes us think, ‘Time moveth not, our being ‘tis that moves’ from a verse by Henry Kirke White.
Most controversial is Dod Proctor’s naked adolescent girl, displayed alarmingly as if for sale and labelled ‘little sister’, 1933. Presumably this was not objected to then in a different era, although even on grounds of being severely badly proportioned it might have been criticised. It’s rather an embarrassing shock within the show.

We can learn much about the social history of the times from both the paintings and the black and white photos of Harry Paul, 1914-1957. 

 Some of the equipment used is displayed. I overheard visitors exclaiming as they found  images of people they knew.
Here the spontaneity of quickly taken photos, which can catch a moment of interaction, maybe a smile, shows the new medium off well. 

 

Compare a stiffly posed painted  ‘’woman mending nets’ by Ralph Todd, probably 1920’s, with the 1950’s photograph of net mending -   Philip Paynter of St Ives. However Fred Millard not only paints a finely observed woman threading a needle, 1885, but combines this with the philosophical title, ‘The thread of life runs smooth as yet’. Maybe he used a camera to help him catch the detail, then probably needing to use his eye to record the colours.

So we see here that although no one asks if art is photography, photography is surely an art.