The Garman Ryan Collection is a permanent collection of art works housed at The New Art Gallery Walsall and comprises 365 works of art, including prints, sketches, sculptures, drawings and paintings collected by

Kathleen Garman Kathleen Esther Garman, Lady Epstein (15 May 1901 – August 1979) was the third of the seven Garman sisters, who were high-profile members of artistic circles in mid-20th century London, renowned for their beauty and scandalous behaviour. She ...

(later wife of the sculptor Jacob Epstein) and lifelong friend

Sally Ryan Sally may refer to: People * Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name Military * Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port *Sally, the Allied reporting ...

The Garman Ryan collection features many examples of works by key European artists of late 19th and early 20th Century, including Van Gogh,

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, Monet, Turner and Degas. There are a high number of works on paper within the collection and a number of sketches relating to major works by European artists, such as Delacroix's charcoal sketch of a ''New Born Lamb''. It also includes a selection of sculpture, vessels and votive objects from cultures in Africa, Asia and South America. There are a significant number of works by Jacob Epstein within the collection. The collection contains the largest single holding of works by Jacob Epstein anywhere. Many of these works are bronze portrait busts, a mix of family members and commissioned portraits. There are also studies for key works, such as ''Study for Rock Drill''.

History of the collection

It is unclear at exactly what point Kathleen Garman and Sally Ryan conceived of making a collection of art. It has been suggested that the collection was, in part, in response to the death of Jacob Epstein (Kathleen's husband) whose work and own personal artefacts feature heavily within the collection. The Collection was largely assembled between 1959 and 1973. Kathleen was the sole beneficiary of Epstein's estate upon his death, and although she sold much of his collection in accordance with his will, she retained a number of objects that were said to be of significance to her. Sally Ryan was able to fund the collection of artworks due to a large inheritance received from her grandfather Thomas Fortune Ryan, a successful American tobacco and transport magnate. A number of Sally Ryan's own works also form part of the Garman Ryan collection. Kathleen Garman also ran her own commercial art gallery, 'The Little Gallery', operating in Kensington, London in the mid-1960s, as a consequence she was buying and selling art on a regular basis. It has been suggested that a number of works from the Garman Ryan collection were originally 'Little Gallery' stock. A number of artists represented with the collection also had personal connections with Kathleen Garman and Sally Ryan. Jacob Epstein was Kathleen's late husband, and artists Augustus John,

Gaudier-Brzeska Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (né Gaudier; 4 October 1891 – 5 June 1915) was a French artist and sculptor who developed a rough-hewn, primitive style of direct carving. Biography Henri Gaudier was born in Saint-Jean-de-Braye near Orléans. In 19 ...

and

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

were all friends. Family links are also evident within the collection; there are a number of works by

Theodore Garman Theodore Garman (1 July 1924 – 22 January 1954), known as Theo, was an English painter of the mid-20th century. Early life Garman was born on 1 July 1924,Birth certificate, in the Epstein Archives at The New Art Gallery Walsall the son of Ka ...

, the son of Kathleen Garman and Jacob Epstein, and ''

Portrait of Kitty ''Portrait of Kitty'' is a painting by Lucian Freud of Kitty Garman, his wife and the eldest daughter of the sculptor Jacob Epstein and Kathleen Garman. Completed between 1948 and 1949, this oil on board measures . Freud (1922–2011) was mar ...

'', a portrait of Epstein's daughter Kitty by her first husband Lucian Freud.The Rare and the Beautiful: The Lives of the Garmans by Cressida Connolly, Fourth Estate The collection was donated to the people of Walsall in 1973 and opened to the public in July 1974. It was originally exhibited in what was the first floor reference room of Walsall Library. The collection was moved to its new purpose-built home over two floors of The New Art Gallery Walsall, and opened to the public in this new setting in 2000.

Themes

The Garman Ryan collection is exhibited thematically, as was the intention of Kathleen Garman. The themes are; "Children", "Work and Leisure", "Flowers and Still Life", "Religion", "Illustration and symbolism", "Figure studies", "Animals and Birds", "Trees", "Portraits" and "Landscapes".

Key works

– '' Caryatid'' * Jacob Epstein – '' Study for Rock Drill'' * Jacob Epstein – Bust of

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

* Vincent van Gogh – ''

Sorrow Sorrow may refer to: * Sorrow (emotion) * ''Sorrow'' (Van Gogh), an 1882 drawing by Vincent van Gogh * "Sorrow" (Bad Religion song), 2001 * "Sorrow" (The McCoys song), also covered by The Merseys and David Bowie * "Sorrow" (Pink Floyd song), ...

'' * Lucian Freud – ''

'' * Claude Monet – ''

The Sunken Road in the Cliff at Varengeville ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' File:Paul Cézanne - Baigneurs (Grande planche).jpg,

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

– '' Baigneurs (Grande planche)'' File:William Etty - Standing Female Nude.tif, William Etty – ''Standing Female Nude'' File:Robert Delaunay - Portrait of Stravinsky.tif, Robert Delaunay – ''Portrait of Stravinsky'' File:Edward Burne-Jones - The Nativity.jpg, Edward Burne-Jones – '' The Nativity'' File:Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot - The Outskirts of Rome.jpg,

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...

– ''The Outskirts of Rome'' File:Landscape with Clouds.tif,

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

– ''Landscape with Clouds''

References

External links

The Garman Ryan Collection at The New Art Gallery Walsall
{{Authority control Collections of The New Art Gallery Walsall