CHENIL GALLERY

1906 - ?

183 King's Road, Chelsea

The original Chenil Gallery was an old Georgian house situated between Chelsea Town Hall and the Six Bells Public-House located at 183 King’s Road Chelsea and known as Charles Chenil & Co. Ltd. It opened in 1906 and was run by John 'Jack' Knewstub (1872-1959) who ran the business as an art gallery and dealership also as a frame maker and artist colour-man supplying all the needs of the local artist. In 1925 the gallery was refurbished and acquired the adjoining premises and the New Chenil Galleries had a picture gallery, a sculpture gallery and an art school and a repertory theatre and was opened in 1925 by Augustine Birrell KC (1850–1933) but Knewstub was made bankrupt in 1927 when Charles Chenil & Co. Ltd was voluntarily wound up. However, the Chenil name continued to be used in association with various exhibitions until the 1950s. Suffolk artists who exhibited with a Chenil Gallery include Cecil Arthur Hunt, David Muirhead, Cuthbert Julian Orde, Malcolm Osborne, Henry George Rushbury, Gerald Summers, Algernon Mayow Talmage, Charles Lambert Colyn Thomson, Sidney Tushingham, Frank Clifford Ward, William Ainsworth Wildman, Connie Winn and William Thomas Wood.

A London based gallery with the same name was operational in the 1970s and 1980s. It is not known if they were related.




Works by This Artist