A Life in Art & Reuniting the Twenties Group

These two simultaneous exhibitions showcase pioneering female gallerist Lucy Wertheim’s vast contribution to mid-20th century modern art, reuniting works from her collection and telling both her own story and that of the artists that she fervently championed.

Born in Manchester to a family of cotton merchants, Lucy Wertheim (1883-1971) lived in the North of England with her husband, a Dutch consul, Paul Wertheim and their three children before opening her first gallery. Encouraged by the artists Frances Hodgkins and Christopher Wood, Wertheim opened the Wertheim Gallery where unusually ‘pictures were displayed as in a private house’.

In 1930, Lucy Wertheim opened the Wertheim Gallery in London. Wertheim challenged the established art scene conventions; she was a woman without formal art training, driven by intuition and a belief that young British artists should have the same opportunities as their European counterparts.

Wertheim's dedication to her artists spanned five decades, during which she amassed a significant collection of paintings and drawings, mounted hundreds of exhibitions, loaned new works to schools, and made many gifts to galleries and museums both nationally and internationally. Her own instinctive taste was reflected in the bold, vibrant, naïve style that characterised the work of many of the artists she exhibited and supported.

Wertheim bequeathed over 50 works to the Towner Collection following her association with the gallery and friendship with David Galer.

Though Wertheim is well-known among specialist gallerists and collectors, she is relatively unknown by the broader public as a figure in art history, although people may be familiar with many of the artists she represented. Paintings, drawings and sculptures from her dispersed collection will be brought together again for the first time in 50 years alongside works exhibited in the Wertheim Gallery in A Life in Art: Lucy Wertheim, Patron, Collector, Gallerist, which will illustrate the significance of the close relationships she developed with her artists and the impact of her patronage on their careers.

 A Life in Art will feature works by artists such as Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, Cedric Morris and Frances Hodgkins, alongside Edward Wadsworth, Walter Sickert, Matthew Smith and Henry Moore and lesser-known artists such as Kathleen Walne, Suzanne Cooper, Kenneth Hall, Basil Rakoczi and Henry Stockley, revealing the significance of Lucy Wertheim’s hidden legacy within public collections. The exhibition also marks half a century since Wertheim’s gift to Towner, and therefore an opportune moment to celebrate this pioneering female gallerist.

Reuniting the Twenties Group features early works from artists including Barbara Hepworth, Roger Hilton, Victor Pasmore, Robert Medley, Nan Youngman, Mervyn Peake and Edna Ginesi alongside many other artists, all of whom were in their twenties when they first exhibited at the Wertheim Gallery in the 1930s. Frustrated that only established British artists were being shown in commercial galleries at the time, Wertheim created the Twenties Group as a forum for ‘painters of the future’. The group had several exhibitions before the gallery was requisitioned as an air raid shelter at the start of the Second World War, and this exhibition will be the first time the Twenties Group has been shown together again since.

Tim Mainstone on Suzanne Cooper
Benny Rakoczi and Kenneth Hall by Chris Rakoczi

Writings comissioned for the Towner Blog during the two exhibitions.

Artists Hayley Field and Jacqueline Utley from the collaborative project Obscure Secure are in residence at Towner Eastbourne for the duration of these exhibitions. They will be working on a research project exploring the visibility of women artists in gallery collections, with a focus on Kathleen Walne, as fellow painters from positions of care. Kathleen, who was represented by and worked for Lucy Wertheim as a young artist, also cared for her in old age.

Read more about the Obscure Secure residency on the Towner Blog.

Lucy’s Women: Artists’ Research Workshop
Wednesday 13 July
10.00am to 4.00pm, free to attend

Adventure in Art Book Group
Thursday 14 July 2022
11.00am to 1.00pm, free

Adventure in Art Book Group (Online)
Thursday 1 September
6.00pm to 8.00pm, free

Addressing the Absences: Discussion Day
Wednesday 21 September
10.00am to 4.00pm, £14

Curator Tours, 2.00pm (Free for ticket holders)
Wednesday 29 June
Wednesday 13 July
Wednesday 17 August
Wednesday 14 September

A Life in Art & Reuniting the Twenties Group has reunited works from Lucy Wertheim’s collection and from the artists that she fervently championed for the first time in over fifty years. Towner Eastbourne is extremely grateful to the Lucy Wertheim Estate, donors, public collections and private collectors who have made it possible.

Supported by Lorna Gradden, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Alan Moses, The Golsoncott Foundation, the Finnis Scott Foundation and the donors of the Lucy Wertheim Exhibition Supporters Circle: John Duncalfe, Andrew and Lucy Ellis, Frestonian Gallery, Jeremy Greenwood and Alan Swerdlow, Edward Hutchison, Neil and Victoria Jennings, Jimmy Nelson, John Wheller and Richard Flin

This exhibition has been made possible as a result of the Government Indemnity Scheme. Towner would like to thank HM Government for providing Government Indemnity and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England for arranging the indemnity.