21 April 2008
Guildhall Art Gallery welcomes back Essex Art Club
Essex Art Club is today (Monday 21 April) returning to the
Guildhall Art Gallery for the first time in more than 20 years with
Essex Paints London, a selected exhibition of more than one hundred
paintings, prints, watercolours and drawings of London scenes and
subjects.
Many famous names have been associated with the Club during its
long history, including Sylvia Pankhurst, Sir Winston Churchill and
Sir Alfred Munnings. Membership currently stands at 168 and
includes professional and non-professional artists. Its youngest
member is Sarah Harvey, who was a runner-up in the ‘Best Newcomer’
category in the 2007 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and has
contributed two highly atmospheric underwater paintings – of the
lidos at Hampstead Heath and London Fields – to this
exhibition.
The show also includes an extensive selection of paintings and
sculpture by past members, lent by the Royal Academy, National
Portrait Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum and Imperial War
Museum, as well as other institutional and private lenders.
Photographs, cuttings, letters and personal belongings are also on
show to tell the fascinating history of this long-established and
flourishing art society.
Vivien Knight, curator of Guildhall Art Gallery, says: “The
Club’s members responded enthusiastically to the ‘London’ brief,
and we are delighted to welcome them back. Given the Club’s
strong commitment to encouraging membership from non-professionals
and students, as well as established artists, I’m sure the
exhibition will offer something for everyone.
“We are particularly pleased to show work produced by past
members and presidents, and I believe that the paintings, prints,
drawings and posters by Haydn Mackey and Walter Spradbery will be
an eye-opener for those not already familiar with their work.”
Essex Art Club began life in 1899 when staff and students of the
Walthamstow School of Arts and Crafts formed a sketching society,
the Grosvenor Sketch Club, named after the School’s home in
Grosvenor House in Walthamstow. It later merged with the Essex
County Art Club and took in the Society of Essex Artists and by
1914, it was called the Essex Grosvenor Sketch Club. In 1934, it
changed its name to the Essex Art Club and invited Sir George
Clausen to become its president. Professor Ken Howard RA has been
the Club’s president since 1989. The association between Guildhall
Art Gallery and the Essex Art Club goes back to 1949, when the Club
held its 50th exhibition in the utilitarian gallery erected on the
bomb-damaged site of the original building in Guildhall Yard.
Admission to Essex Paints London is free on purchase of a ticket
(£2.50 for adults, concessions £1) to the gallery. Entry to
Guildhall Art Gallery is free of charge to City workers and
residents, as well as all day on Fridays and from 3.30pm on other
days.
Ends
Notes for edtiors
For further information and requests for images and interviews,
please contact:
Andrew Buckingham, Press Officer, City of London, 020 7332 1452 or
mob: 07795 333060
Email
andrew.buckingham@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Essex Paints London is at the Guildhall Art Gallery from 21
April to 15 June. The gallery’s contact details are: Guildhall Art
Gallery, Guildhall Yard, London, EC2V 5AE, telephone 020 7332 3870,
email
guildhall.artgallery@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Journalists who would like to attend the press view at midday on
Friday 18 April are asked to contact Andrew Buckingham (see above
for details). Some of the exhibiting artists will be present at the
viewing and available for interview.
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