A closer look at The London Group exhibition shown in a poster in the film The Friend.
Earlier in 1919, the Group’s first President Harold Gilman had died in the Spanish ‘flu epidemic. He had been “the glue” holding the group together during the war and its formative teething problems, a major loss. The Treasurer, Robert Bevan, became Chairman until 1921 when Bernard Adeney was elected as the second President. The Mansard Gallery, still visitable at Heals in Tottenham Court Road, was a new gallery for the Group to exhibit in. Their first exhibitions from 1914 to 1917 had a been in the Goupil Gallery in Lower Regent Street, but the owner William Marchant didn’t like the pacifists in The London Group and told the Group to pack its bags. They also were not selling!
“Eleventh Exhibition of The London Group”, The Mansard Gallery, Heal & Son Ltd., 196 Tottenham Court Road, (The titles and places of these exhibitions are as printed in the exhibition catalogues), 1st November to 29th November 1919. Only R. Bevan was recorded as an officer (Treasurer) at the head of a single sheet catalogue. The Working Committee was R.P. Bevan, D. Fox-Pitt, M. Godwin, Sylvia Gosse, C.R.W. Nevinson and R. Schwabe from a total of thirty-seven members. There had been some membership changes since the last exhibition in May. Edward McKnight Kauffer (who had been the Honorary Secretary) had resigned. Others not listed were Charles Ginner (although he continues to exhibit with the Group through the inter-war years), Wyndham-Lewis, William Roberts, Edward Wadsworth and Frederick Etchells. Lewis only ever exhibited in two London Group exhibitions (March 1914 and March 1915) and in the 1928 Retrospective and Wadsworth has an identical record. Frederick Etchells only showed in the March 1914 first exhibition and the 1928 Retrospective whilst Roberts showed in 1915, 1922, 1925, 1926, the Retrospective, 1937 and 1938 pre Second World War. Walter Sickert appears again on the list as a full member having been first elected in 1916, along with new members Vanessa Bell, Bernard Meninsky, Keith Baynes and Boris Anrep. This was a large exhibition of one hundred and twenty-nine works, much more than previous years. Thirteen non-members exhibited up to two works each, (members were entitled to show five each), amongst them being E.M. O’R. Dickey, Rupert Lee, F.J. Porter, Mathew (sic) Smith, Cicely Stock and E. Wolfe. All of these artists were destined to be voted into the Group as full members, previous selection being a condition of London Group membership. The titles listed in this catalogue were predictable and unchanging, “Portrait”, “Landscape”, “Interior”, “Study”, “Still Life”, “Flowers”, “Trees”. By contrast there was “The Hunger Marcher” from David Bomberg and circus themes from Mark Gertler and Boris Anrep. Exhibit number 129 (the last!) was “Brown Bear” (sculpture) by Rupert Lee, the first three-dimensional object in a London Group exhibition for a while. This was not a large sculpture. Denys J. Wilcox in his book “Rupert Lee: Painter, Sculptor and Printmaker” gives “Bear” 1918 as being 7.5 x 13.5 cms in glazed pottery. Sylvia Gosse exhibited a number of etching and lithographic prints. The catalogue was a curious construction of two folded sheets of cheap, beige paper folded A5. Given that there were so many designers in the Group (McKnight Kauffer was Honoraray Secretary), or at least known to group members, the quality of these catalogues was disappointing.
The art critic ‘J.B.M.’ (J. B. Manson?) headlined the eleventh exhibition in the Daily Herald’s 10th November edition as “Monkeying with Art, Dull Eccentricities of London Group’s Exhibition.” J.B.M. continues, “It is dull because monkey tricks and the desire of smart young men to be original at all costs are fatiguing after much repetition… Most of the exhibitors have invented a personal convention, which is applied with tiresome reiteration. Observation and perception have disappeared . . .” The critic thought Miss S. de Karlowka’s portrait of ‘Miss N.’ was the best picture, “It would be more difficult to say what is the worst. Probably it is ‘Anger’ (115), by Mr. R.A. Wilson, an imitator of Mr. Wyndham Lewis; or else it is one of Mr. Gertler’s exceedingly coarse and clumsy productions… There is little to be hoped for from Mr. Bomberg; one can forgive him for cultivating eccentricity, but one cannot excuse his extreme dullness. His skeleton ‘Barges’ (31) is really too silly.” Others lashed by the pen were Roger Fry, Mr. Meninsky, Mr. F.J. Porter and Mr. W. Ratcliffe. Mr. Matthew Smith, Miss Ethel Sands, Mr. Walter Taylor and Mr. Fox-Pitt formed “a quiet oasis in this neurotic and turgid medley.”
David Redfern LG
Extract from Redfern, D. (2013) The London Group: A History 1913–2013. The London Group
