Twenty Twenty
The Fine Art Society is now almost 145 years old and has survived two world wars, depressions, a financial crash and, most recently, a global pandemic. The decision to relinquish our original building on New Bond Street was a sad one, but necessary. With the slate wiped clean, we have been afforded the opportunity to ponder the essence of FAS and work out how best to preserve it, while evolving to ensure our longevity. The secrets of our previous successes will be essential: respect for the gallery’s history; fearlessness in resurrecting overlooked artists; an egalitarian approach to fine art and its counterpart, design; attention to detail in presentation and scholarship; and the distillation of the Fine Art Society aesthetic – intangible but instantly recognisable.
In our first exhibition in our beautiful new space, we trust you will discern this ethos. Our star artists, old friends of the gallery since the early days, are represented here. We have a beautiful Nocturne by Whistler, made on a trip to Venice funded by the gallery, and two pictorially inventive pieces by Sickert, who famously described us as 'The Best Shop in London'. Of the (undeservedly) lesser known artists in the catalogue we showed both Doris Zinkeisen and Ethelbert White at the gallery within their lifetimes, and held a major retrospective of White’s work shortly after his death. Several of the artists and designers shown here were also rescued from obscurity by the gallery: we first exhibited Christopher Dresser in 1972, Joseph Southall in 1980, while Charles Ashbee and The Guild of Handicraft were first shown in 1981.
We are pleased to include one of the best works by Walter Greaves, a working-class boatman in Chelsea who later became pupil and studio assistant to Whistler. We also include a rare work by Clare Atwood, who was loosely associated with the Camden Town group, including Sickert and Spencer Gore, through the New English Art Club. Many of the artists in this catalogue were associated with this group, considered avant-garde at its inception, followed by the even more radical London Group.
A major highlight of the exhibition is a portrait by John Minton of his young friend and student Eric Verrico, which easily rivals his portraits of the same period now held in museums around the world. Like many artists of the time, including Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud, Soho was Minton’s stomping ground. His friends, fans and rivals congregated around the notorious Colony Room and the portrait was once in the collection of the club’s infamous owner, Muriel Belcher. In 1988 The Fine Art Society held an exhibition of Artists in Soho, including works by Minton alongside his close friends Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde. The artistic associations with Soho past and present are an important part of our relocation there. It retains enough of its off-beat spirit and historical character to suit a gallery such as The Fine Art Society.
ROWENA MORGAN-COX, Managing Director, London
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A. W. N. Pugin, Three Branch Candelabra, 1840
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A. W. N. Pugin, Gothic Revival Ciborium, 1857
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John Pollard Seddon, Gothic armchair, c.1860
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John Pollard SeddonJardiniere, 1877CJC Bailey, Fulham Pottery (maker)
salt glazed stoneware8 1/2 x 12 1/4 inches -
Walter GreavesOld Chelsea, the Last Regatta, c.1871signed and inscribed 'Old Chelsea’s Last Regatta by Walter Greaves 525 Fulham Road, Walham Green'oil and gouache over etching on paper10 1/4 x 21 3/4 inches
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James McNeill WhistlerNocturne, 1879-80signed in pencil with a butterfly and inscribed 'imp'etching7 3/4 x 11 1/2 inchesan impression in the fifth (final) state: published in 'Twelve Etchings' the First Venice Set (No.4), 1880 in an edition of 100
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John PearsonLarge Jardiniere, 1891The Guild of Handicrafts (makers)
signed on the base J. Pearson 1891Copper17 3/4 x 9 7/8 in
45 x 25 cm -
Clare AtwoodDawn Breaking at Old Billingsgate, 1910signed and datedoil on canvas36 x 30 in
91.4 x 76.2 cm -
Spencer Frederick GoreA Garden Square in Camden Town, 1910oil on canvas
52 x 60 cm 20 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches -
Walter Richard SickertTipperary, 1914signed and dated 1914oil on canvas20 x 16 in
50.8 x 40.6 cm -
Walter Richard Sickert, The Toast, ‘Trelawny of the Wells’
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Joseph Edward SouthallBrigs on the Fowey Estuary, c.1919Oil on panel14 x 8 in
35.5 x 20.3 cm -
Ethelbert WhiteSomerset LandscapeOil on canvas24 1/8 x 20 in
61 x 50.8 cm -
Bertram NichollsCottage in Tuscanyoil on canvas15 1/8 x 12 7/8 inches
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George Leslie HunterThe Beach, Juan-Les-Pins, 1927signed and dated l.l.: L. Hunter. 27.
Oil on canvas24 1/8 x 29 7/8 in
61 x 76 cm -
Julian TrevelyanMountain Village, Italy, 1930signed
oil on board
12 5/8 x 16 inches -
Denham MaclarenArmchair, c.1930glass, chrome fittings, and leather upholstery
26 3/4 x 22 1/2 x 33 1/2 in
68 x 57 x 85 cm -
Lill TschudiIn the Circus, 1932signed, numbered 18/50 USA and inscribed 'Handpoint' in pencillinocut9 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches
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Edward BawdenSalver, c.1932lithograph36 1/4 x 23 1/2 inches
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Jessica DismorrMother and Child, c.1932oil on gesso board24 1/8 x 18 1/2 in
61 x 47 cm -
Doris ZinkeisenMevagissey, CornwallOil on canvas16 1/2 x 20 1/2 in
42 x 52 cm -
Marcel BreuerDining Chair, 1936Isokon Furniture Company (manufacturer)
laminated birch and birch plywood
29 1/2 x 16 1/4 x 20 1/4 inches -
Gerald SummersBathroom Mirror, c.1939Makers of Simple Furniture (manufacturer)
plywood, sycamore, and glass
33 1/2 x 29 x 5 inches -
Gerald SummersDinner Wagon, 1935Makers of Simple Furniture (manufacturer)
1935-1939 (manufactured)
birch plywood
26 x 16 x 28 inches -
David BombergLandscape, Cornwall, 1947signed 'Bomberg'
oil on paper
30.5 x 42 cm 12 x 16 1/2 inches -
John MintonPortrait of Eric Verrico, 1947-8signed, inscribed 'John Minton Italian Boy, Oil 1947-8' versooil on canvas42 x 32 in (107 x 82 cm)
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Denis MitchellAbstract Composition, c 1951signed and indistinctly numbered from the edition of 10woodcut9 3/4 x 9 7/8 inches
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William ScottFish on a Plate, 195115 x 19 5/8 in
38 x 49.7 cm -
Alfred Burgess ReadTable lampTroughton & Young Ltd. England (manufacturer)anodised aluminium shade and stem, steel base, enamelled black15 x 15 x 15 inches
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George Carwardine‘Anglepoise’ lamp 1227, 1938Herbert Terry & Sons (manufacturer); designed 1935metal with Bakelite switch mechanism
37 1/2 inches x 18 1/2 inches x 6 inches extended
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Robert WelchDecanter, Designed 1968hallmarked to collar; Birmingham, 1973blown glass with silver stopperheight 11 3/4 inches
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Noel Billinghurst‘Gray-Stan' vase, c. 1930The Graydon Studios (manufacturer)
engraved signature, 'Gray-Stan' to underside of baseSwirled and mottled opaque cream, red/brown and clear glassheight 7 in
height 17.8 cm -
Keith MurrayVase, c.1936acid-etched signature to underside of base; Stevens & Williams Ltd. (producer)Purple and clear cased glass with controlled bubble decoration, raised on a clear glass footheight 7 1/2 inches
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Keith MurrayVase, Model no. 1147a, c.1936Stevens & Williams Ltd. (producer)Purple and clear cased glass with controlled bubble decoration
height 8 inches -
Frank AuerbachTo The Studios, 1982Crayon and Tipp-Ex on paper
11 5/8 x 7 1/4 in
29.5 x 18.5 cm -
Ambrose HealOccasional table, 1933no. MW2423; Heal & Son Ltd. England (producer)ebonised wooden top and under shelf
21 1/2 x 24 x 24 inches -
Ronald GriersonModernist rug, c.1935woven wool37 x 59 inches
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Walter Sickert, Standing nude in an interior, , c. 1921-22
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Alistair Morton, Untitled, 1939
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Serge ChermayeffWriting Desk, c.1928stamped 'Waring & Gillow Ltd'; metal label affixedsolid and veneered mahogany with brass handles30 x 36 1/4 inches