Tonight (22 January) sees the opening of the London Group’s Centenary Exhibition. And what better way to celebrate 100 years than by showing 100 artworks?
Taking place at PM Gallery & House and Sir John Soane’s historic Pitzhanger Manor House, the exhibition embraces many artistic approaches, including painting, print, sculpture, video works and site-specific installation. Each work has been specially made for the show and will reflect personal responses by the artists to the location and to the life and labours of all those who have previously lived there.
Highlights include a lithograph by Dame Paul Rego, paintings by Vic Kuell, Frank Bowling, Anthony Green and James Faure Walker, plus sculptures by Jeff Lowe, Mike Phillipson and Bill Watson.
They follow in the footsteps of previous high-profile London Group members including Harold Gilman, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Jacob Epstein, Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Lucien Pissarro and Walter Sickert, who together formed the London Group in 1913. Their aim was to create a powerful artist-run exhibiting body to act as a counter balance to institutions such as the Royal Academy.
The founding group created a structure for a democratically-run organisation with a mentoring and exhibiting programme that has gone on to support the careers of many of Britain’s best-known artists including Frank Auerbach, David Hockney, L.S. Lowry, Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland.
A hundred years from its foundation, the London Group’s Centenary Exhibition continues to illustrate the diversity of the group. With a year-long programme of exhibitions and events planned, 2013 looks set to be a busy year for this historic society.
Centenary Exhibition runs until 9 March at Pitzhanger Manor Gallery & House, London. www.thelondongroup.com
