Helen Christian Sutherland (24 February 1881 – 29 April 1965), married name Helen Denman, was an English art patron and collector.
Life
She was the daughter of
Sir Thomas Sutherland
Sir Thomas Sutherland, (, 16 August 1834 – 1 January 1922) was a Scottish banker and politician, initially elected to represent the Liberal Party and then as a Liberal Unionist. He founded HSBC and was a director of P&O.
Early life
Sutherla ...
, and his only surviving child. She married
Richard Denman
The Honourable Sir Richard Douglas Denman, 1st Baronet (24 August 1876 – 22 December 1957), was a radical British Liberal Party politician and Labour Party then National Labour MP.
Background
Denman was the son of Richard Denman, a court c ...
in 1904; the marriage was annulled in 1913.
They had separated in 1909; Denman married May Spencer in 1914.
After her marriage failed, Sutherland began to collect art. Initially she took guidance from Freddy Mayor of the
Mayor Gallery. From the mid-1920s she collected mainly from a group of artist friends. In 1929 she took a lease on
Rock Hall, Northumberland
Rock Hall is a privately owned 18th-century country house, at Rock, Rennington, near Alnwick, Northumberland (). It is a Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or his ...
.
She was an early patron of the
Ashington Group.
David Jones met Sutherland through
Jim Ede
Harold Stanley Ede (7 April 1895 – 15 March 1990), also known as Jim Ede and H. S. Ede, was a British curator, collector of art and friend to artists. He was the creator of Kettle's Yard in Cambridge.
Life and career
Jim Ede was born in Penar ...
;
Ben
Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right.
Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin ...
and
Winifred Nicholson
''From Bedroom Window, Bankshead'', date unknown, private collection
''Costa Brava'', 1953, Government Art Collection
Rosa Winifred Nicholson (née Roberts; 21 December 1893 – 5 March 1981) was a British painter. She was married to the pa ...
met her through the artist Constance Lane, in 1925.
Through
Michael Roberts and his wife
Janet Adam Smith, the poet
Kathleen Raine
Kathleen Jessie Raine (14 June 1908 – 6 July 2003) was an English poet, critic and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently Plat ...
was introduced to Sutherland, who fostered her two children with
Charles Madge
Charles Henry Madge (10 October 1912 – 17 January 1996) was an English poet, journalist and sociologist, now most remembered as a founder of Mass-Observation. Philip Bounds, ''Orwell and Marxism: the political and cultural thinking of George O ...
during World War II.
Sutherland was one of
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...
's early English supporters, buying a picture by 1938. From 1939 she lived at Cockley Moor, near Dockray,
Penrith, now in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, in a house redesigned by
Leslie Martin
Sir John Leslie Martin (17 August 1908, in Manchester – 28 July 2000) was an English architect, and a leading advocate of the International Style. Martin's most famous building is the Royal Festival Hall. His work was especially influenced ...
in Modernist style.
She left her art collection to
Nicolete Gray.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Helen
1881 births
1965 deaths
English art collectors
British women art collectors
English art patrons
Helen