Renwick Coals, 1937 by Suzanne Cooper

“Renwick Coals, 1937” is a painting by the English artist Suzanne Cooper. The painting casts the fashionable attractions of Torquay Pavilion and the Church of St John the Apostle into the distance, drawing the eye to the business end of a working port.

The harbour, on Torbay’s north shore, is enclosed by two piers and adamantine walls. In the foreground, two fishermen check their nets for damage while discussing the morning’s catch.

Despite the apparent naivety with which Cooper paints fishermen and gulls, the receding perspective of water, boats, harbour walls and sheds, and a street of houses stretching up a hill is very cleverly managed.