Harold Harvey - Orange Sellers, Newlyn [c.1907]

Harold Harvey - Orange Sellers, Newlyn [c.1907], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Harold Harvey’s seemingly innocent depiction of girls selling oranges to a young fisherman carries a hidden message that reveals important social concerns in Edwardian Britain. He first tackled the subject in 1905 in The Orange Seller (Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro), a picture of a girl seated in a dark interior with a basket of oranges. This visual idea was taken out into the open air and in the present example, placed in the busy ambience of Newlyn Harbour. Here, his viewpoint took in the waterfront, a section of the North Pier and the gentle slope of Paul Hill running down to Wherry Town, which is off to the right. Along with neighbouring Mousehole, this was a favourite setting between 1905 and 1908. However the encounter he depicts contains a more complex message. Oranges remained an exotic fruit in rural areas in the Edwardian period

[Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 40.6 cm]