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Jonathan Clark has been one of London’s leading dealers in Modern British Art for over 25 years. The gallery holds possibly the largest inventory of 20th Century British paintings, drawings and sculpture in the country. It also represents the estates of a number of major figures, lending further depth to the gallery’s holdings. Jonathan began his career in the art world, after stints in the merchant navy and at Glyndbourne, as a porter at Christie’s in 1973. In 1976, he joined the long-established Bond Street dealers Frost & Reed, where he dealt in Old Masters, French Impressionists and Modern European art – and it was here where he first began to buy and sell Modern British paintings and sculpture.
In 1986, Jonathan opened the gallery at 18 Park Walk,
a four-story Georgian townhouse in the heart of Chelsea – London’s long-time bohemian quartier, where many pre- and post-war British artists had studios and digs. Initially, it was an old-fashioned dealership, concerned with buying and selling the finest works available within what was then a relatively small market, with the gallery designed to feel more like a house, albeit owned by someone with far-reaching tastes and a very particular eye.
In the beginning, the gallery specialised in ‘traditional’ 20th century British art, by elegant Edwardians such as William Nicholson and John Lavery and painters for whom Post-Impressionism was art made modern, such as the Bloomsbury and Camden Town Groups. Jonathan was the first dealer in London since the War to hold a major exhibition of the Scottish Colourists, thus establishing their reputations south of the border (and, consequently, internationally). In the early 90s, the focus of the gallery moved towards the cool Modernism of the inter-war years – showing artists such as Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, through which it also became one of the first galleries in London to re-examine the work of the St Ives artists, both pre- and post-war, as a serious alternative to London as the centre of the British avante-garde.
In the mid-1990s, the gallery expanded its activities to representing the families and estates of a number of leading artists, beginning with Ivon Hitchens. As an artist’s representative, the gallery is not only involved in estate planning and the selling of work from an artist’s holdings, but also spends much of its time working on exhibitions (both at 18 Park Walk and in collaboration with museums), producing high-quality catalogues, liaising with publishers on book projects, conservation and restoration, handling of copyrights etc.
The gallery’s informal style in many ways disguises its influence on the Modern British market over the last two decades, as a major buyer and seller and through its work on both public and private collections. |
