Watts Gallery – Artists' Village is an art gallery in the village of Compton, near Guildford in Surrey. It is dedicated to the work of the

Victorian-era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...

painter and sculptor

George Frederic Watts George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical work ...

. The gallery has been Grade II* listed on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

since June 1975.

History

Watts moved to "Limnerslease" in Compton in 1891, and with his artist wife, Mary Fraser-Tytler, planned a museum devoted to his work, which opened in April 1904, just before his death. The architect of the Gallery was Christopher Hatton Turnor, an admirer of Edwin Lutyens and C.F.A. Voysey. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, the building contains top-lit galleries that allow Watts's work to be displayed under natural light. It is one of only a few galleries in the UK devoted to a single artist, and is often hailed as a national gallery in the heart of a village. The present director is Alistair Burtenshaw and the curator is Dr Cicely Robinson. Former curators include Dr Nicholas Tromans,

Wilfrid Blunt Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922), sometimes spelt Wilfred, was an English poet and writer. He and his wife Lady Anne Blunt travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the Arabian horse bloodline ...

Richard Jefferies John Richard Jefferies (6 November 1848 – 14 August 1887) was an English nature writer, noted for his depiction of English rural life in essays, books of natural history, and novels. His childhood on a small Wiltshire farm had a great influ ...

and Mark Bills. Watts Gallery is a registered charity under English law. Watts Gallery was placed second in the final of the BBC TV series '' Restoration Village'' in 2006. In January 2008 it was announced that the Gallery intended to deaccession and sell two Victorian paintings, ''Sleeping Woman'' (1880) by

Albert Joseph Moore Albert Joseph Moore (4 September 184125 September 1893) was an English painter, known for his depictions of languorous female figures set against the luxury and decadence of the classical world. Life Moore was born at York on 4 September 1841 ...

and ''Triumph of Love'' (1871) by

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...

, which had both been bequeathed to the collection by Cecil French. These were duly sold. The money was used to maintain the Gallery which was closed from September 2008 until 2010 for restoration. In December 2006 Watts Gallery received a £4.3 million grant from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

for renovations to help safeguard the future of the building and its collections. Watts Gallery reopened in June 2011 after a major scheme of works, including extension, refurbishment and restoration. Visitors can now experience the Watts collection in the historic galleries displaying the original decorative schemes. Over one-hundred paintings by G. F. Watts are on permanent display at the Gallery. Spanning a period of 70 years they include portraits, landscapes and his major symbolic works. From the dramatic entrance of the Livanos Gallery to the monumental sculpture and studio artefacts in the Sculpture Gallery, Watts Gallery shows the collection left by the artist as his legacy. In January 2016, Watts Gallery opened the newly renovated "Limnerslease", the former home and studio of G. F. and Mary Watts, completing the Artists' Village. Compton's burial ground, nearby, houses Watts' remains and is dominated by the ornate Arts & Crafts

Watts Mortuary Chapel The Watts Cemetery Chapel or Watts Mortuary Chapel is a chapel in an Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style) version of Celtic Revival in the village cemetery of Compton in Surrey. While the overall architectural structure is loosely Romanes ...

, designed by Watts' wife Mary, also run by the museum. In 2017,

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

was the subject of some controversy when it agreed to provide a grant to the gallery of £100,000 per annum over 4 years to make up for loss of grants from elsewhere, at a time when the council were making cuts of £34 million to local services.

De Morgan Foundation

Following the closure of the

De Morgan Centre ] The De Morgan Centre for the Study of 19th Century Art and Society was a gallery in the London Borough of Wandsworth, England, which was home for a few years to the De Morgan Foundation#The De Morgan Collection, De Morgan Collection. From 2002 ...

, London, in the summer of 2014, the Watts Gallery and the De Morgan Foundation, a registered charity preserving the work of

William De Morgan William Frend De Morgan (16 November 1839 – 15 January 1917) was an English potter, tile designer and novelist. A lifelong friend of William Morris, he designed tiles, stained glass and furniture for Morris & Co. from 1863 to 1872. His tiles ...

and

Evelyn De Morgan Evelyn De Morgan (30 August 1855 – 2 May 1919), née Pickering, was an English painter associated early in her career with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, and working in a range of styles including Aestheticism and Symboli ...

, entered into a collaboration which saw the opening of a long term exhibition in the Richard Jeffries Gallery in the main gallery building. This exhibition includes a number of key works from the De Morgan Collection.

References

External links

*
De Morgan Foundation websiteBBC ''Restoration Village'' on Watts Gallery
* {{authority control Grade II* listed buildings in Surrey Museums in Surrey Art museums and galleries in Surrey Biographical museums in Surrey Buildings and structures completed in 1904 Art museums established in 1904 1904 establishments in England Charities based in England

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' *Watts family, six chara ...

History

De Morgan Foundation

See also

References

External links