ZWEMMER GALLERY
Zwemmer Gallery was established by Dutch-born Anton Zwemmer (18 February 1892–23 January 1979) who, around 1923 purchased a bookstore on Charing Cross Road from his employer, Richard Jäschke (c1863-1 June 1933), and modified its profile to specialise in art and modern literature and then opened, as an annexe to his bookshop, at 26 Litchfield Street. When the gallery first opened in 1929 it was one of a handful of venues in London that promoted the international avant-garde. It was managed by Robert Wellington who had been persuaded by Victor Pasmore (3 December 1908-23 January 1998) to mount an exhibition of work by artists associated with the Central School of Arts and Crafts, and it was at the second exhibition in 1931 that Charles Robert Owen Medley (19 December 1905-20 October 1994) and William Coldstream made their debuts. An interesting gallery exhibition was 'Objective Abstractions' in 1934 which included work by Frank Graham Bell (21 November 1910-3 August 1943), Rodrigo Moynihan (17 October 1910-6 November 1990), Ivon Hitchens and Ceri Geraldus Richards (6 June 1903-9 November 1971). In 1935 the gallery was the venue for the final exhibition of the Seven and Five Society of Artists, this was the first all abstract exhibition to be held in Britain and included works by John Egerton Christmas Piper (13 December 1903-28 June 1992) and Winifred Nicholson (21 December 1893-5 March 1981). During the mid-1930's the gallery also showed works by Pablo Picasso (25 October 1881–8 April 1973), Giorgio de Chirico (10 July 1888–20 November 1978), Joan Miró (20 April 1893–25 December 1983) and the first British solo exhibition of Surrealist Salvador Dali (11 May 1904-23 January 1989). After the Second World War, Zwemmer Gallery re-opened in 1947 when Anton Zwemmer's two sons, John and his younger brother Desmond (6 December 1919-8 September 2000) joined their father in running the business which in 1949, was renamed A. Zwemmer Ltd. In 1954 artist Michael Chase was appointed as a full-time gallery manager until the gallery closed in 1968 and the brothers sold the business in 1985 to [Edward] Philip Wilson (November 1940-), a company. The gallery, which had been much missed by the capital’s art lovers during a closure of some 30 years, eventually reopened above the bookshop in December 1999. In 1991 the business was the subject of a book, 'More than a Bookshop', by Nigel Halliday. Suffolk artists who exhibited at the Zwemmer include Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, John Reginald Brunsdon, Peter Coker, Colin Moss, John Scorror O'Connor and Valerie Thornton. The firm's records, which includes its sales ledgers, is now in the Tate Archive.