High Street Gallery Celebrates Its 60th With Guildford’s Art Greats

Published on: 24 Aug, 2019
Updated on: 24 Aug, 2019

Guildford House Gallery is 60 years old

Guildford House Gallery is celebrating its 60th birthday all summer with a free exhibition dedicated to people and places with links to the borough.

Officially opened in 1959 by Alderman Lawrence Powell, the building at 25 High Street, then known as “Child House” had been bought by the council in 1957.

Alderman Harold Kimber, then Mayor of Guildford, announced that 25 High Street would replace the demolished Guildford House as a centre for exhibitions and educational activities and be known as Guildford House.

The People and Places exhibition runs until 22 September. It includes a series of six individual mini-displays or stories based on a portrait, landscape or townscape as starting points and links between them and objects from Guildford’s collections. Themes include unexpected connections, ways of seeing, fashionable families, that’s entertainment, how your garden grows and more.

Part of the People and Places exhibition at Guildford House Gallery.

Portraits from the town’s most famous painter John Russell (1745-1806) feature in the exhibition. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1788 and appointed Crayon Painter to King George III, Queen Charlotte, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Kent in 1790.

Guildford Heritage Service holds what we believe to be the world’s largest collection of Russell portraits, as well as numerous prints and objects such as Russell’s easel, pastels, and sketches of the town.

James Steel (Lib Dem, Westborough), lead councillor for Leisure, Heritage, Communications and Tourism, said: “Our town is enriched by its history and artists, architecture and natural landscapes. They play a huge part in making our borough so vibrant and one of the most sought-after places to live in the South-east.”

Each story in the People and Places exhibition was curated by. Lynn Szygenda, Exhibitions and Audience development manager, focused on fashionable families. She said: “I chose Guildfordian John Russell’s portraits as a base for my mini-collection. A pioneer of pastel portraits, he was one of the most popular artists of his day.

Portraits by Guildford artist James Russell

“His sitters came from all walks of life and included Surrey characters. He was excellent at portraying children, and his own children modelled for him as did his wife. The most striking theme in these paintings is the portray of costume and the varied changing fashions of the time.

“Russell charged £80 15s 0d for a half-length portrait whereas Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA FRS FRSA, arguably one of the most famous artists in the country at the time, charged only £70.”

Curatorial assistant Gemma Haigh selected ancient history in the 18th century for her story, “Classically Contrived”. Gemma was recently awarded a prestigious Understanding British Portraits Fellowship award enabling her to develop professional expertise in portraiture, specifically John Russell portraits. Russell features in her mini collection which explains how visitors were attracted to excavated cities such as Herculaneum and Pompeii to experience the magic, culture and history they held.

She said: ‘‘The Grand Tour’ was a rite of passage for middle- and upper-class Britons, including women, and was often the finishing touch to any education. Tourists would explore the sites and leave inspired and influenced by the classical styles they saw. This period is called neo-classical and gave rise to new fashions, architecture, art and learning.”

Engagement officer Dajana Topczewsk, chose local and regional abstract artists as the basis for her”‘Ways of Seeing” story which contrasts the rest of the collection. She said: “Since the early 1900s, abstract art has formed a central part of modern art and is described as a visual language of shape form, colour and line which simplifies the subject it represents.”

Her story concentrates on Ronald Smoothey MBE (1914-1996). Born in Essex Smoothey studied in Guildford and later Camberwell School of Arts then Goldsmiths’ College where he obtained his teacher’s certificate. He was art master at the Royal Grammar School for 32 years until 1979 and lifelong member of the Guildford Art Society. He was awarded MBE for services to national art education.

People and Places is running till September 22 and complements the art with objects from Guildford Borough Council’s museum and gallery collections to tell stories and reveal, often unexpectedly, connections between the pieces.