THINK Cornwall, think sandy beaches. pasties and tourists. But there is another aspect of culture that is syonymous with the place — art.

From the 1800s on, Cornwall's dramatic coastline, its quaint cottage-clustered coves and its bright, ever- shifting light have drawn artists eager to capture a unique corner of Britain.

One of the first was arguably England's greatest artist and a man well before his time: JMW Turner. From the Tamar Valley to the tip of the Penwith peninsula, he portrayed the area in watercolours for a market keen to purchase the 'picturesque'.

But the fact he painted these gems is due in no small part to political upheaval — the Napoleonic Wars meant travel abroad was fraught with difficulty. They were dangerous times and this seems to reveal itself in some works — Turner's 1818 painting, 'Land's End', has echoes of William Blake in its tempestuous 'other worldliness'.

Turner and many artists and their connection to Cornwall are explored by art historian Michael Bird in a recent title in the 'Pocket Cornwall' series of books.

If any artists can lay claim to have firmly planted Cornwall on the artistic map, it is those of the Newlyn School in the late 19th century. With their French-influenced outdoor, or 'plein air', practice, they revealed an until then, virtually secluded world of fishermen and their families, and of life and toil in cottage and clay pit.

Later, the work of Dame Laura Knight moved towards more middle class subject matter. Bird writes that Knight and others transformed that area of Cornwall from 'a place of cloudy skies and worthy toil to a land touched by Mediterranean radiance'.

The draw of Cornwall did not dim. In the post-war years, modern, abstract artists such as Terry Frost, Patrick Heron and the Cornish-born Peter Lanyon made the Duchy's land and seascapes their muse.

As well as these new artistic arrivals, one man, Alfred Wallis, a former St Ives fisherman, had painted what he saw and remembered of life, doing so 'for company' after his wife died.

He was 'discovered' by the artists Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood who were drawn to his almost childlike distinctive and instinctive style.

But no work on art in Cornwall is complete without mention of the sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth, who lived in St Ives and died tragically there in 1975.

Her workshop remains and her garden, replete with fascinating abstract works, is a must-see for any art lover venturing to the far south west.

The book includes comment on and illustrations of many other artists in a variety of forms — proof positive that Cornwall has been and still is an artistic anchor for so many.

l 'Art in Cornwall' by Michael Bird is published by Alison Hodge, price £6.95.

COLIN BRENT