Norman Cornish exhibition is all about family

Almost exactly two years after the death of Norman Cornish, one of the most celebrated artists the mining community has ever produced, his family has decided to make his private collection of pictures public.

Born in County Durham, in the 1930s, his pictures showed life in North East pit villages to the rest of the world.

Now a new exhibition is showing previously unseen family sketches and paintings from the artist's private collection. They give a greater insight into the home life of a man famous for capturing a bygone era with his brush and pencil.

With a stroke of his hand, he captured the heart of his community.

It is a way of life, now gone, which lives on, affectionately, through the eyes of an artist.

Norman Cornish is revered for reflecting the people outside his front door.

This new exhibition shows his own life is also behind it.

Complimenting the exhibition- a peek into where it was created.

Part of the front room of the family's 1950s house has been re-built.

So, too, his studio, set up the 1960s.

The exhibition will remain in the Garden Rooms, at Tennants Auctioneers, until August 28 - a rare glimpse into the life of one subject Norman Cornish barely put to canvas- himself.