My Local Art Gallery

London is full of lesser known galleries and Barons Court has one. It is less than five minutes walk from my front door on the Fulham Palace Road, so really Hammersmith. 

 

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There is some sculpture outside the main door, the best of which is this Henry Moore. Within is a diverse collection of 20th and 21st century art and one older piece, these Victorian tiles depicting agricultural activities.

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There are oils, prints, etchings, silk screen prints and more. Not all the artists whose work I saw are household names, or not in my house, but you will know Edward Bawden, Patrick Proctor, perhaps Polly Bagnall, and of course Julian Trevelyan. I expected to find work by Julian’s wife, Mary Fedden, but didn’t. However, I saw only a small part of the collection which has work by Julian Opie, Bridget Riley, Patrick Caulfield and many more. Here is Norwegian Fjord by Keith Grant.

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Like most galleries it has a cafe and bookshop. Unlike other galleries its opening hours are 24/7 and it has a hospital; the Charing Cross Hospital. This eclectic collection has been put together by the Imperial College Healthcare Charity and more of their works are exhibited in two other London hospitals. It gets funding from the National Lottery and has been given work by the Tate and the artists themselves. I think it’s an admirable initiative.

Maybe they have a picture of a flamingo? If they do I haven’t seen it but it’s an excuse for me to remember being taken out from Castle Park by my best friend, Alan Tinsley. His mother had a radio in her car and when I was in the back, feeling slightly sick, I heard this, stopped feeling sick and thought I was in LA living in the fast lane. I still love it and hope you do too.

9 comments

  1. What a coincidence, we just heard this song on Radio 2 (how cool are we) while driving in the car yesterday. My first introduction to it was actually Rod Stewart singing. I digress. How absolutely fascinating about the hospital art. I much enjoy your wonderfully fascinating vignettes of hidden corners of this and many cities. Reading your blog first thing starts my day with a pique of interest and often a chuckle.

  2. How fascinating!

    A few years ago, I attended Waterford Regional Hospital after a car crash. I was struck by the hospital’s ‘art policy’, indeed they had ‘an artist in residence’ to work with patients and staff.

    The sheer unexpectedness of seeing art in the hospital made the experience of being there much less traumatic, even bordering on the enjoyable!

    1. I’m glad that other hospitals have the same rather enlightened idea, although I’m bound to say that I didn’t see any patients admiring the art. I hope Waterford artist and my cousin, Andrea Jameson, may have contributed some of her work. This is her website http://andreajameson.com and I wrote a post about her and her family on 9th August, titled Sea Interlude.

      1. While I can’t recall seeing Andrea’s work on display there, it certainly would make a wonderful addition. Also, thoroughly enjoyed the ‘Sea Interlude’, especially reading about that Norwegian stove that continues in use to this day!

    1. Thanks Margaret; really interesting to read about the background to this initiative in Waterford. It made my experience to much more relaxed.

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