Karl Weschke German, 1925-2005

Karl Weschke was one of the last of the St Ives school of artists, and one with a distinctive international focus. He moved to Cornwall in 1955, settling later at Cape Cornwall, at the western tip of the county. His figurative and mythic stance placed him at the edge of the main St Ives group, though he was a close friend of Bryan Wynter, Roger Hilton and the poet W.S. Graham. He was born near Gera in Germany in 1925, and was abandoned to an orphanage at the age of two. He joined the military in 1943, was captured and made a prisoner of war at Radwinter, Cambridge, eventually enrolling at St Martins School of Art in 1949. A major retrospective of his work was held at Tate St Ives in 2004.