21 October 2009
Guildhall Art Gallery celebrates 10th anniversary with Sir
Matthew Smith exhibition
Guildhall Art Gallery, which is situated in the heart of the
historic City of London, will mark the 10th anniversary of its
reopening next month with a major exhibition of work by the great
British colourist, Sir Matthew Smith.
Sir Matthew Smith 1879-1959: A Survey of His Life and Work,
Drawn from the Artist’s Studio Collection opens on Wednesday 4
November and runs until Sunday 31 January 2010.
Numbering more than 1,000 paintings, drawings, watercolours and
sketchbooks, the Sir Matthew Smith Collection at Guildhall Art
Gallery comprises the works left in the artist’s studio on his
death in 1959 and presented to the City of London Corporation by
his heir, Mary Keene, in 1973. Thanks to a generous loan from Mary
Keene’s family, the exhibition will also include personal
memorabilia, including the artist’s paint box, palette and some of
the objects which appear in his pictures.
Matthew Smith was the son of a wealthy Yorkshire industrialist,
but he rebelled against the Victorian taste of his family and their
assumption that he would join the family firm. He trained at the
Slade and lived in France, before returning to London in 1914 and
mixing in artists’ circles around Sickert and Fry. Landscape, still
life and the nude remained his favourite subjects throughout his
life, but it was not until the early 1920s and his passionate love
affair with the unconventional and uninhibited artist Vera
Cuningham, that Smith began to develop his unique, distinctive
style. Smith was the contemporary and lifelong friend of Augustus
John and Jacob Epstein, and of many other artistic and literary
figures in both Paris and London.
Vivien Knight, Head of Guildhall Art Gallery, says: “Guildhall
Art Gallery is building a reputation for showing the work of
Victorian artists like William Powell Frith and G F Watts, but we
are delighted to have this opportunity of showcasing such an
important aspect of our own collection. Many artists have been
impressed by Smith’s intuitive and painterly approach and he has to
be regarded as one of the most important British artists of the
20th century.”
Selections from the Smith Studio Collection were previously
shown at Barbican Art Gallery, which also held a major exhibition
of his work in 1983, and a well-reviewed exhibition drawn solely
from the Studio Collection, was shown in the Concourse Gallery at
the Barbican Centre in 1995, before touring to Halifax, Aberdeen
and Bath. Since 2000, Guildhall Art Gallery has maintained a
permanent, though changing, display of Smith’s work, but
opportunities for large-scale exhibitions of the Studio Collection
are rare.
Ends
Press enquiries
Andrew Buckingham, Press Officer, City of London Corporation
Tel 020 7332 1452
Mob 07795 333 060
Email
andrew.buckingham@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Journalists and photographers wishing to attend the
Press View on Tuesday 3 November from 10am - 12.00pm are asked to
contact Andrew Buckingham at the City of London Press
Office.
Sir Matthew Smith 1879-1959
A Survey of His Life and Work, Drawn from the Artist’s Studio
Collection
4 November 2009 – 31 January 2010
Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard, London EC2V 5AE
Mon – Sat 10am – 5pm; Sun 12pm – 4pm
www.guildhall-art-gallery.org.uk
About Guildhall Art Gallery:
Guildhall Art Gallery was opened by HM The Queen in 1999. Situated
opposite the medieval Guildhall, the Gallery opened to the public
in 1886 but was virtually destroyed in an air raid in 1941.
Fortunately, most of its collections had been safely removed to
storage in the country. In the mid-1980s, the Gallery’s rebuilding
was delayed by several factors, in particular, the unexpected
discovery on the site of the remains of London’s Roman
Amphitheatre. The Gallery was redesigned in a way that preserved
the remains at their original level, and the Gallery’s public
display areas constructed above them, with its storage areas
beneath. As well as stepping back in time within the Roman
Amphitheatre, today’s visitors to Guildhall Art Gallery will find
portraits of London and Londoners spanning more than 400 years; an
extensive collection of Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite paintings,
including works by Constable, Tissot, Millais and Rossetti; and one
of the UK’s largest paintings, John Singleton Copley’s monumental
Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, 1782.
About the City of London Corporation:
The City of London Corporation is a uniquely diverse organisation.
It supports and promotes the City as the world leader in
international finance and business services and provides local
services and policing for those working in, living in and visiting
the Square Mile. It also provides valued services to London and the
nation. These include the Barbican Centre and the Guildhall School
of Music & Drama; the Guildhall Library and Art Gallery and
London Metropolitan Archive; a range of education provision
(including three City Academies); five Thames bridges (including
Tower Bridge and the Millennium Bridge); the Central Criminal Court
at Old Bailey; over 10,000 acres of open spaces (including
Hampstead Heath and Epping Forest), and three wholesale food
markets. It is also London’s Port Health Authority and runs the
Animal Reception Centre at Heathrow. It works in partnership with
neighbouring boroughs on the regeneration of surrounding areas and
the City Bridge Trust, which it oversees, donates more than £15m to
charity annually.