The London Group members are meeting up on Friday 25th October at the Café Royal London to celebrate 100 years to the day of The Group’s first recorded meeting.
In Edwardian London the Café Royal was a popular meeting place for artists and also members of the French community. One such group of artists was the Camden Town Group who were renamed and expanded in numbers to become The London Group in 1913. The Café Royal was situated in Regent Street, close to Piccadilly Circus and so was a convenient location for artists and guests to seek refreshments and to share gossip and news with the French clientele. Paris was the leading artistic capital of Europe at the time, having ‘hosted’ Post-Impressionism and now fostering Cubism and Fauvism. Avant-garde British artists, especially those in The London Group, looked to French painting as their model.
The Café Royal has recently been reopened as a luxury 5 star hotel where an absinthe cocktail will set you back £20. Santé! The London Group – may you last another 100 years.
