Artist Norman Cornish brings 'best numbers' to Bowes Museum

Norman Cornish documented scenes from everyday life

An exhibition of work by the artist Norman Cornish has helped bring to a museum the "best visitor numbers" for a decade.

The display at Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle had been due to end on 23 February but has been extended until 17 May due to its popularity.

It is the first "major retrospective" of the ex-miner-turned-painter's work and marks a century since his birth.

The museum said it had attracted "outstanding" visitor numbers.

His images chronicled "life in a bygone era"

Curator, Dr Howard Coutts, said it had brought the museum "the best visitor numbers in the last 10 years".

"The response we have had to this centenary celebratory exhibition has been outstanding.

"It's drawn people into the museum from all over the country, many who are revisiting their own childhoods or that of their family, to those who are keen to see what life was like in the north-east as Cornish captured it."

Cornish, from Spennymoor, began working as a miner at 14, before forging a career as an artist and retiring from underground work aged 47.

He was best known for documenting scenes from everyday life.

Featuring more than 70 works from across his career, Norman Cornish: The Definitive Collection, includes items from public and private collections, some of which have never been shown publicly before.

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