The Grafton Galleries, often referred to as the Grafton Gallery, was an art gallery in Mayfair, London. The French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel showed the first major exhibition in Britain of Impressionist paintings there in 1905.[1] Roger Fry's two famous exhibitions of Post-Impressionist works in 1910 and 1912 were both held at the gallery.[2]
Formation | 1893 or earlier |
---|---|
Dissolved | c. 1930 |
Type | Art gallery |
Location |
|
Coordinates | 51°30′36″N 0°08′37″W / 51.51°N 0.1437°W |
Manager | Francis Gerard Prange |
Secretary | Henry Bishop |
Parent organization | Grafton Galleries Co Ltd |
The date of foundation of the Grafton Galleries is not certain; some sources give 1873, when it had an address in Liverpool.[3] The gallery was incorporated in London on 16 June 1891, and opened in February 1893,[4][5] first at 8 Grafton Street, and later, from 1896, in Bond Street. The manager was Francis Gerard Prange.[3] From 1905 or earlier, Roger Fry was an advisor to the gallery; he asked William Rothenstein to advise him on exhibition content.[4]
The first London exhibition of the Grafton Galleries opened on 18 February 1893; the last was probably in 1930.[3] 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 in 1910–11, and the Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition of 1912.
Exhibitions held at the gallery include:[3][6][7]
Other artists who exhibited at the gallery include Frank Brangwyn,[1] Alfred Egerton Cooper,[8] John Lavery, William Orpen, Christopher Nevinson, Ben Nicholson, Glyn Philpot, William Bruce Ellis Ranken, Frank Salisbury, John Singer Sargent, James Jebusa Shannon and George Fiddes Watt.[1]
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;[3] and the Allied Artists' Association held its annual show in the Grafton Galleries from 1916 to 1920.[4]