The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in

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(originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The

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gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society since February 1876, the entrance façade of which was designed in 1881 by Edward William Godwin (1833–1886).

History

Founded in 1876 by a group of like-minded men led by William Longman of the publishing family,

Marcus Bourne Huish Marcus Bourne Huish (25 November 1843 – 4 May 1921) was an English barrister, writer and art dealer. He was the son of Marcus Huish of Castle Donington and his wife Margaret Jane Bourne. His mother died in 1847 and in 1849 his father remarr ...

(1843–1904), lawyer, editor, writer and collector, who became the first managing director while at the same time editing ''

The Art Journal ''The Art Journal'' was the most important British 19th-century magazine on art. It was founded in 1839 by Hodgson & Graves, print publishers, 6 Pall Mall, with the title ''Art Union Monthly Journal'' (or ''The Art Union''), the first issue of 7 ...

''; and Archibald Stuart-Wortley MP. The gallery, first managed by Ernest Brown (later founder of Leicester Galleries) has for many years largely concentrated on British art and design from 1600 to the present day; with the Edinburgh premises specialising in Scottish art of the same period. The Edinburgh branch of the company is directed by Emily Walsh. The chairmen were all drawn from the Longman family until the death of Mark Longman in 1972. Since then only Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden KT (until 1998), Sir Angus Grossart (until 2016) and Robin Holland-Martin (current) have held the position. Only seven people have held the position of managing director in the past 139 years, the last being Pippa Stockdale. The Fine Art Society has taken part in key international art fairs over the years, most notably at TEFAF Maastricht, Masterpiece, London, Frieze Masters, London and at the

London Original Print Fair The London Original Print Fair is an annual art fair in London. It is held in late April at the Royal Academy of Arts in London's Piccadilly. The Print Fair was founded in 1985 by Gordon Cooke, a director of The Fine Art Society in London. In 1 ...

, whose founder and chairman, Gordon Cooke, is also the society's 19th and 20th century prints specialist. The society has also exhibited in art fairs in New York, Miami, Hong Kong, Paris and Dubai.

Exhibitions

The gallery is also known as the pioneer of the one-man exhibition, most famously that of

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

's First Venice Set of etchings in December 1880; the gallery having sent Whistler to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

in 1879 in part to enable him to escape from the issues following his libel action against

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

. The commission was for Whistler to travel to Venice for three months to create a series of twelve etchings. Beguiled by the city, he stayed for fourteen months and completed approximately fifty etchings. Venice also inspired Whistler to make some hundred works in pastel, of which 53 were shown in the Venice Pastels exhibition in 1881. During Whistler's absence in Venice, the gallery showed his antagonist John Ruskin's private Collection of Watercolours by

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbul ...

, and ran a subscription to pay for Ruskin's legal costs: a supreme exhibition of political sleight of hand. Other living exhibitors at the London premises included

Sir John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest s ...

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

, Burne-Jones,

Frank Brangwyn Sir Frank William Brangwyn (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer. Brangwyn was an artistic jack-of-all-trades. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced des ...

Walter Richard Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on di ...

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

George Washington Lambert George Washington Thomas Lambert (13 September 1873 – 29 May 1930) was an Australian artist, known principally for portrait painting and as a war artist during the First World War. Early life Lambert was born in St Petersburg, Russia, th ...

Henry Charles Brewer Henry Charles Brewer (1866–1950) was a British painter well known in the first half of the 20th century for his watercolour landscapes and architectural paintings. Family and early life Born on 25 May 1866 in Wurzburg, Bavaria, Henry Charle ...

and Joseph Southall, and more recently

Leonard Rosoman Leonard Rosoman (27 October 1913 – 21 February 2012) was a British artist. Early life Rosoman was born in London and educated at the Deacon's school, Peterborough, and then at the King Edward VII school of art in Newcastle upon Tyne, under ...

, Emma Sargent, Emily Young, John Byrne,

Alexander Stoddart Alexander "Sandy" Stoddart (born 1959) is a Scottish sculptor, who, since 2008, has been the Queen's Sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland. He works primarily on figurative sculpture in clay within the neoclassical tradition. Stoddart is best kn ...

and Geoffrey Clarke. Of many memorial exhibitions held, one was for

Lady Alma Tadema Laura Theresa, Lady Alma-Tadema ( Epps; 16 April 1852 15 August 1909) was an English painter specialising in domestic and genre scenes of women and children. Eighteen of her paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy. Her husband, Sir Lawr ...

in 1910. A Contemporary gallery was created in 2005, originally managed by Toby Clarke, subsequently by Kate Bryan, and most recently by Lee Cavaliere. Sara Terzi is now the Contemporary art specialist at the gallery. The Contemporary team have embraced the nineteenth and twentieth century heritage of the gallery and increased cross-cultural links, particularly in Asia, Australia and the US. Among the artists shown are Chris Levine, Angela Palmer, Annie Kevans, Jacky Tsai and Bartholomew Beal. In October 2014 The Fine Art Society Contemporary staged the first exhibition to be held at the gallery across all 5 floors, 'What Marcel Duchamp Taught Me.' The exhibition featured artwork by 50 contemporary global artists including Sir Peter Blake,

Cornelia Parker Cornelia Ann Parker (born 14 July 1956) is an English visual artist, best known for her sculpture and installation art.Gavin Turk, Chris Levine, Conrad Shawcross,

Keith Tyson Keith Tyson (born Keith Thomas Bower,Keith Tyson

Michael Craig-Martin Sir Michael Craig-Martin (born 28 August 1941) is an Irish-born contemporary conceptual artist and painter. He is known for fostering and adopting the Young British Artists, many of whom he taught, and for his conceptual artwork, '' An Oak Tre ...

, Jonathan Yeo,

Joseph Kosuth Joseph Kosuth (; born January 31, 1945), an American conceptual artist, lives in New York and London,

Idris Khan Idris Khan OBE (born 1978) is a British artist based in London.Biography
Victoria Miro Gallery Khan's ...

, Annie Kevans and Charming Baker. The exhibition curated by Kate Bryan was one of the most successful in the history of the gallery and marked 100 years since

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

created the readymade.

References

External links

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{{Authority control Art museums and galleries in London Art museums and galleries in Edinburgh Visual arts exhibitions 1876 establishments in the United Kingdom Art galleries established in 1876 Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster