The Art of Collecting at the Mall Galleries

'The Art of Collecting' at the Mall Galleries

The Art of Collecting opens at the Mall Galleries tomorrow (until 6th July). It comprises displays of selected works from four different and important private art collections in the UK - plus it has a room devoted to paintings by important women artists in those four collections.

The Fleming Collection 

This year the Fleming Collection is celebrating 50 years of collecting Scottish art from the seventeenth century to the present day; including many of the greatest names in Scottish art. The collection is now owned by the Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation which pursues a "museum without walls" strategy

• to initiate exhibitions of Scottish art outside Scotland
• to promote and understanding and awareness of Scottish art through various activities

Part of the Fleming Collection on display - including a painting by Joan Eardley

The Jerwood Collection 

The Jerwood Collection is currently celebrating 25 years since the purchase of its first work. It promotes the public display of this private collection of British Art from the 20th and 21st centuries through a number of initiatives including exhibitions

The Ingram Collection 

The Ingram Collection is the youngest Collection. It was begun in 2002 by Chris Ingram, a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist.  The Collection has over 600 works of Modern British Art and aims to provide opportunities to be inspired by art. It's generally recognised as the biggest privately owned publicly accessible collection of Modern British Art in the country.

part of the Ingram Collection of Modern British Art on display

(left) paintings by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham
(right) Ingram Collection - including paintings by Maggie Hambling and Cedric Morris

The Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust 

This is a trust related to just one artist, who was a leading member of the St Ives Group, and was established in 1987. The Trust was set up to maintain her legacy and promote her achievements after her death.

On Friday 29th June, there is also an event An Introduction to Artist Legacy Planning

Art lawyers, tax lawyers, artist estate representatives and others discussing everything from artist resale rights, copyright, collection inventories, will making to different models of artist trusts and foundations

Importantly, the exhibition also forms part of the Mayfair Art Weekend (29 June – 1 July 2018) which embraces all the major independent art galleries and institutions in the Mayfair area which has a Facebook Page, Instagram account and Twitter account

I attended a preview last night and took a few photographs. It was fascinating to see some of the galleries used in different ways and containing the type of artwork not normally seen in the galleries. It's also an opportunity to see amazing paintings by some artists who are not often seen in London.

Big paintings in the North Galleries looked extremely good
- part of the Jerwood Collection of paintings by past prizewinners

Women Artists in the Threadneedle Space

This part of the exhibition contains paintings by women from all four collections - including Rose Wylie, Aleah Chapin, Alison Watt, Chantal Joffe and Anne Redpath plus smaller paintings by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.

It was great to see a painting by Aleah Chapin again (see my interview with Aleah Chapin). You can see an interview between Chris ingram and Aleah Chapin after her first exhibition at the Flowers Gallery in London below.

(Left) The Tempest by Aleah Chapin - painted the year after she won the BP Portrait Award 2012
(right) a work by Rose Wylie

I also adore paintings by Alison Watt and was pleased to be introduced to the paintings of Anne Redpath.

(left) Window in Menton by Anne Redpath RSA ARA (right) The Bathers by Alison Watt OBE FRSE RSA 

The collector interviews the artist

The exhibition is in all three galleries of the Mall Galleries until 6 July 2018. Admission is free.  The bookshop has a number of relevant publications related to both collections and the artists in them.