LONDON ARTISTS' ASSOCIATION
London Artists' Association was set up in October 1925 with a group of guarantors including Samuel Courtauld (7 May 1876–1 December 1947), John Maynard Keynes (5 June 1883-21 April 1946), Leopold Hamilton Myers (6 September 1881-7 April 1944) and Frank Hindley Smith (3 May 1863–5 October 1939). The secretary was Robert Alan Wimberley Bicknell (2 May 1893-16 June 1966) and the Association had the sole rights in the artists production in return for a certain sum paid down to the artist for any selected work. Half the agreed price was paid at the time of selection and the other half when the painting was sold. The Association also arranged exhibitions of the work of the group with a gallery at 13 George Street, Hanover Square, London. The Association’s aim was to organise exhibitions with the backing of financial guarantors so that artists could show their work at minimal cost also be guaranteed a small income if the work failed to sell with the guarantors given the option to purchase work exhibited at pre-arranged prices, the artist was then relieved of financial worry. The first beneficiaries were members of the Bloomsbury Set, six artists and a sculptor, Roger Fry (14 December 1866-9 September 1934), Duncan Grant (21 January 1885-8 May 1978), Vanessa Bell (30 May 1879-7 April 1961), Keith Baynes (11 November 1887-17 April 1977), Bernard Adeney (2 August 1878-4 April 1966), Frederic Porter (12 June 1883-20 July 1944) and Frank Dobson (18 November 1886-22 July 1963). Originally restricted to 6-8 members an exhibition of the initial seven members was held at Reid's Gallery, West Broad Street, Glasgow in February 1926 (Daily Record 9 February 1926) with the first public exhibition for three weeks from the middle of May 1926 at the Leicester Galleries and the second in November. They later exhibited at the Redfern Gallery and the Cooling Galleries. The Association survived for only eight years, being dissolved at the end of 1933 when the restricted membership was sixteen, but many artists benefited from membership during its short existence. These included Ivon Hitchens, Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898-31 August 1986) and Paul Nash (11 May 1889-11 July 1946) and several artists had their first solo exhibitions with the Association including William Menzies Coldstream, Claude Rogers and Victor Pasmore (3 December 1908-23 January 1998) who, in 1932, held his first solo exhibition at the Association’s Bond Street Gallery. An exhibition of the works of Members of the London Artists' Association held an exhibitions at the Towner Gallery, Eastbourne 7 January-13 February 1953 which was opened by William Coldstream and in April the same year at the Chapel Bar Gallery in Nottingham when Roger Fry's 'Stream in Suffolk' was on show.
Note: there was a previous City of London Artists' Association which was liquidated and on 30 August 1880 the liquidator had a sale at the remaining paintings at the Central Sale Rooms, Promenade, Blackpool.
Works by This Artist
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London Artists' Association 1933 Exhibition |