Galleries
Abbott and Holder
One of the earliest galleries in the Barnes area was Abbott and Holder, established in 1942. Robert Abbott and Eric Holder’s partnership was to provide affordable art dating from 1750. Robert Abbott bought a large house on Castelnau Road which acted as both home and gallery for their rapidly increasing stock and the informal, domestic display of pictures became established as their house style. In the days when watercolours and drawings formed the core of distinguished collections, supply outstripped demand and works could be purchased for a few pounds. The house became something of a mecca for enthusiasts.
The New Grafton Gallery
In the early 1980s The New Grafton Gallery transferred from Mayfair to 49 Church Road (now Gail’s) and attracted collectors and artists alike. Its founder was the delightful David Wolfers (1917-2001), a leading light in London’s private gallery community who vigorously promoted a cross-section of British talent, including established names such as Elisabeth Frink, Carel Weight, Mary Fedden, Ruskin Spear, Tom Coates, Peter Greenham, Keith Vaughan and John Nash. Its stable of contemporary emerging artists includes Richard Pikesley, Sarah Spencer, Julian Bailey and Ruth Stage.
With the exciting addition of Linda Bird, with her decorative, organic and tribal artwork, and the Riverside Gallery which specialises in paintings and prints of Barnes, as well as at least two private galleries art is still, as it has been for so long, taken seriously in the Barnes community.