The Grafton Galleries, often referred to as the Grafton Gallery, was an art gallery in Mayfair, London. The French

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

showed the first major exhibition in Britain of Impressionist paintings there in 1905.

Roger Fry Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English painter and critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developme ...

's two famous exhibitions of Post-Impressionist works in 1910 and 1912 were both held at the gallery.

History

Entrance to the New Grafton Galleries, Illustrated London News, 25 February 1893, p

The Octagon Gallery - The Opening of the New Grafton Galleries, Graphic, 25 February 1893, 47- 184

The Long Gallery - The Opening of the New Grafton Galleries, Graphic, 25 February 1893, 47- 184

The date of foundation of the Grafton Galleries is not certain; some sources give 1873, when it had an address in Liverpool. The gallery was incorporated in London on 16 June 1891, and opened in February 1893, first at 8 Grafton Street, and later, from 1896, in Bond Street. The manager was Francis Gerard Prange. From 1905 or earlier, Roger Fry was an advisor to the gallery; he asked

William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

to advise him on exhibition content.

Exhibitions

The first London exhibition of the Grafton Galleries opened on 18 February 1893; the last was probably in 1930. The most celebrated exhibitions held there were Paul Durand-Ruel's Impressionist show of 1905, and the two Post-Impressionist exhibitions put on by Roger Fry: ''

Manet and the Post-Impressionists A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...

'' in 1910–11, and the ''Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition'' of 1912. Exhibitions held at the gallery include: * 1893, February: First exhibition, consisting of paintings and sculpture, by British and foreign artists of the present day * 1893, May: Second exhibition, consisting of the third exhibition of the Society of Portrait Painters, by British and foreign artists of the present day * 1893, November–December: First exhibition of French artists in decorative art * 1894: Fair women * 1894: Fourth exhibition of Grafton Gallery, including a retrospective exhibition of work of Albert Moore, and a general collection of British and foreign works * 1895: Winter exhibition of the works of old Scottish portrait painters, with a selection of the pictures of John Thomson of Duddingston and a collection of old Scottish silver and weapons * 1895: Fair children * 1896: Sixth exhibition of the Society of Portrait Painters * 1896: Pictures representing the loss of

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's expedition to the

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, painted by

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* 1896, January–March: A loan collection of modern pictures, chiefly of the

Barbizon Barbizon () is a commune (town) in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Barbizonais''. Art history The Barbizon school of painters is nam ...

and Dutch schools, with a collection of 200 original drawings by and others * 1896, April: Charles Sedelmeyer's fine art exhibition * 1897: Exhibition of dramatic and musical art * 1897:

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exhibition * 1897: Seventh exhibition of the Society of Portrait Painters * 1897: Summer exhibition of members' work, Society of Miniaturists * 1897, January: Exhibition of the works of

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* 1898: Catalogue of pictures which belong to 68, Princes Gate * 1898: Collection of pictures by Old Masters formed by

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* 1898: '' The Gentlewoman'' photographic competition, exhibition of prize pictures * 1898: Eighth exhibition of the Society of Portrait Painters * 1898, April–May: Exhibition of Australian Art in London * 1898, June: Bibliotheca Lindesiana, manuscripts and examples of metal and ivory bindings exhibited to the Bibliographical Society * 1899:

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, 1838–1905 * 1899, January: Vasily Vereshchagin exhibition:

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, 1812, from a sketch made by an eye-witness * 1899, October–December: Exhibition of modern French art, with a representative collection of the artistic work of Louis Tiffany, of New York * 1900: Fourteenth exhibition of the Ridley Art Club * 1900: Ninth exhibition of the Society of Portrait Painters * 1900, summer: Exhibition of a special selection from the works by George Romney, including a few portraits of

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by other artists * 1900, December: Exhibition of a second selection from the works by George Romney, including a few portraits of Emma, Lady Hamilton, by other artists * 1901: Exhibition of South African pictures by R. Gwelo Goodman * 1901: Exhibition of works by

Willi Wolf Rudinoff Willi is a given name, nickname (often a short form or hypocorism of Wilhelm (name), Wilhelm) and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Willi Apel (1893–1988), German-American musicologist * Willi Boskovsky (1909–1991), A ...

(an alias of Wilhelm Morgenstern), including examples in oil, water-colour, etching, and dry point * 1901, March–April:

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, second annual exhibition * 1902: Exhibition of the works of Emil Fuchs * 1902: Works by the late Archibald Stuart Wortley, founder and president of the Society of Portrait Painters * 1902: Portraits by the late

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Franco-Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, he backed t ...

, and one hundred pencil studies by Violet Manners, Marchioness of Granby * 1902, March:

, third annual exhibition * 1902, November: Works by Emil Fuchs, the designer of the

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and the King's head on the new

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* 1903, January:

, fourth annual exhibition * 1903, March: Modern Celtic ornament as applied to gold and silver plate, pewter, jewelry, carpets, garden pottery, sundials, etc. * 1903, May: Bijoux et

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exposés par M.

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* 1903, May–July: French masters exhibition * 1904, January:

, fifth annual exhibition * 1904, December:

, sixth annual exhibition * 1905, January–February: pictures by

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, Edgar Degas,

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, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and

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, exhibited by Paul Durand-Ruel and Sons, from Paris * 1905: Annual exhibition of the Society of Miniaturists * 1905, March: Exhibition by Emil Fuchs * 1905, May: Exhibition of a selection from the collection of the late

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, including a few works by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot,

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, Narcisse Virgilio Díaz,

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, one of the Maris brothers, and other artists * 1905, December:

, seventh annual exhibition * 1906: Munich fine art exhibition * 1906, January: Eighth exhibition of the

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* 1906, July:

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in London * 1906, December:

, eighth annual exhibition * 1907: Exhibition of paintings and sketches of the Polar regions by Aleksandr Borisov of

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

* 1907: Exhibition of works by members of the Société des aquarellistes français and the Société des peintres de la marine * 1907, November–December: Special exhibition, United Arts Club * 1908, January:

, ninth annual exhibition * 1908, February–March: Fourth exhibition of the United Arts Club * 1908, April: Indian princes,

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections include some of the ...

, Italian landscapes, and other pictures * 1908, May–July: Exhibition of paintings by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida * 1908, October–November: The Franco-British Art Association, joint exhibition of

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, Arsène Chabanian * 1908, December:

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of Paris, second annual London salon of original etchings * 1908: Pictures and drawings in the National Loan Exhibition in aid of the National Gallery Funds * 1910, April–May: Tenth Annual Exhibition of the

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* 1910, May–June: Exhibition of Fair Women; International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers * 1910:

* 1911, April–May: Eleventh Annual Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers * 1911, June–July: A Century of Art, 1810-1910 * 1912, April–May: Twelfth Annual Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers * 1912, June–July: Exhibition of Fair Children * 1912: Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition * 1921, April–May: The Annual Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers; Twenty-seventh London Exhibition * 1922, April–May: The Annual Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers; Twenty-eighth London Exhibition Other artists who exhibited at the gallery include

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, Frank Salisbury, John Singer Sargent,

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and

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. The Ridley Art Club held its annual exhibition at the gallery from 1897 to 1919; the Society of Miniaturists held its annual exhibition there from 1905 until 1926; and the

Allied Artists' Association The Allied Artists Association (AAA) was an art exhibiting society based in London in the early 20th century. History The Allied Artists Association was founded by Frank Rutter, art critic of ''The Sunday Times'' newspaper, in 1908. Its purpos ...

held its annual show in the Grafton Galleries from 1916 to 1920.

History

Exhibitions

References

Further reading