05 Apr — 07 Jun 2025
The Studio, Newlyn Art Gallery
Janet Sainsbury paints portraits of 20th-century writers and artists she admires, including photographer Lee Miller, surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, and modernist writers Katherine Mansfield and Jean Rhys. Through researching their work and reading about their lives, she develops an intimate and emotional connection that manifests in her portraits. She seeks to convey the vulnerability, humour, and bravado she finds in their stories.
Janet expresses these feelings of empathy and familiarity through her use of colour and scale. Working from black-and-white photographs, she paints multiple versions of the same subject in her quest to understand them more deeply. On canvas, she builds up thin layers of colour, scraping back and repainting to create depth and nuance. On paper, she works quickly with washes of watercolour and ink, keeping details to a minimum.
Her feelings towards her subjects shift over time, and her portraits are not fixed likenesses but interpretations—elusive and fluid, capturing only one version of the truth while acknowledging that the subjects can never be fully known.
The figures portrayed here have connections to Cornwall.
All works are for sale.
MEET THE ARTIST
FRI 4 APR, 16.00 – 19.00
Join us for a special event to celebrate the opening of Janet’s exhibition, and for an introduction to the work from Janet
FREE ENTRY, and all welcome.
Venue: The Studio, Newlyn Art Gallery
Find on Map
Open: TUE - SAT, 10.00 - 16.00
Follow the Exhibition
Instagram: @newlynexchange
