Richard Green Fine Paintings Gallery

Profil

Richard Green is an international family business of great distinction, his three galleries are in the heart of the London art world. For three generations, Richard Green has dealt in traditional and classical Post War paintings of the highest quality dating from the 17th through to the 21st Century.

The following year, together with my wife and partner Jennifer, we established our first gallery at 36 Dover Street, expanding to 44 Dover Street in 1972. Today our gallery at 39 Dover Street, run by my son Matthew, specializes in Victorian and nineteenth century European paintings. As well as Old Masters and Victorian pictures, I have always had an interest in Sporting paintings. My father represented Sir Alfred Munnings in his lifetime, and the Turf and ownership of racehorses have always been an absorbing hobby for me. In 1979 we acquired a gallery at 4 New Bond Street to display Impressionist and Modern British paintings.

In 1990 my brother John joined the business, bringing to it his many years of experience in property development. The previous year we had acquired from the Throgmorton Trust the former Ackermanns gallery at 33 New Bond Street, which became our Old Master gallery under the direction of Jonathan and John. Among the highlights of exhibitions held at number 33 was The Cabinet Picture in 1999, a loan exhibition of exquisite, small-scale Dutch and Flemish works from public collections. This coincided with our sponsorship of the Richard Green Room in London's National Gallery, which displays the museum's own superb cabinet paintings. Over the years we have been very pleased to assist international museums in the development of their collections.

Richard Green opened its premises at 147 New Bond Street in 1998, after two years' complete renovation of the five storey building which had been occupied by Wild enstein since 1936, and which had once been the home of Lord Nelson. This gave us our first taste of a large architectural project, as the space was completely redesigned, with galleries over three floors. The spectacular main gallery, with its beautiful glazed ceiling, has displayed to advantage our shows of Sporting, Impressionist and Modern British paintings, and this year plays host to our Old Master show, while 33 New Bond Street is being rebuilt. The new millennium saw the rapid development of the market for the leading British artists of the twentieth century, and we have found the light, airy spaces of 147 New Bond Street ideal for showing the works of Henry Moore, William Scott, Patrick Heron, Ivon Hitchens and Frank Auerbach.

Having acquired the freehold of 33 New Bond Street in 1995, Richard Green has now taken the opportunity to redevelop the premises, creating six floors of galleries and offices. We have commissioned an entirely new building, designed by George Saumarez Smith of Robert Adam Architects and brilliantly fusing modern ity and tradition. The sculpture on the façade is being created by the distinguished Scottish sculptor Alexander Stoddart, whose commissions include the bas-reliefs for The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace. The gallery is scheduled to open in eighteen months' time and will provide a flexible space for our stock from Old Masters to twentieth century paintings, as well, we hope, as giving Bond Street a wonderful new building.