New public gallery opens in Letchworth Garden City with an exhibition of Richard Smith
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, November 21, 2024


New public gallery opens in Letchworth Garden City with an exhibition of Richard Smith
Installation view.



LETCHWORTH GARDEN CITY.- Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation announced the opening of the Broadway Gallery, a new gallery for Letchworth that will host a varying public exhibition programme of contemporary and historic art.

The gallery will be situated in the heart of Letchworth. The gallery will open to the public on 24 February 2016 with ‘Reunion’, an exhibition of painter and printmaker Richard Smith (b.1931) displaying over 40 works from throughout the artist’s career.

Smith was born and grew up in Letchworth Garden City and the Broadway Gallery’s inaugural exhibition will celebrate the role that Letchworth had in inspiring one of the founders of Pop art. Smith grew up immersed in the city’s Arts and Crafts environment. The Garden City model originated in tandem with the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early twentieth century and Letchworth was the first Garden City to be built in 1903. It was founded by social visionary Ebenezer Howard with the aim of harnessing the best of both town and country life and improving on late 19th century living conditions.

Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation continues to administer the Garden City Estate on its founding principles, using the revenue from commercial rents to reinvest in the cultural and social wellbeing of the town. This unique model is a remarkable survival story at a time when funding to the arts is frequently under threat. Broadway Gallery also opens at a time when Garden Cities are being increasingly revisited by policy makers as part of the solution to today’s growth requirements.

‘Reunion’ will span six decades of Smith’s artistic practice, including drawings, paintings, collages and prints alongside a series of archival books, photographs and interviews. A highlight of the exhibition will be a series of 30 untitled works on paper from 1997 that is rarely shown in its entirety. Smith was a predecessor to well known Pop artists Patrick Caulfield and David Hockney and his work demonstrates a preoccupation with colour, texture and perspective that is indicative of the early Pop movement. From the 1960s his work has been characterised by its dimensionality, pushing the limits of the canvas as a flat material hung against the wall. Drawing inspiration from the immensity of billboard posters in the United States, where Smith has lived and worked since 1959, his works expand the perspective of the canvas itself through the use of dynamic colours and forms.

Laura Dennis, Visual Arts Curator of Broadway Gallery, said: “Visitors to the exhibition will discover the variety of techniques and media Richard Smith has used in his continued exploration of form and colour. Each drawing, painting and print reveals the artistic concerns that have motivated Smith for more than five decades. We are delighted to open the new Broadway Gallery with an exhibition that celebrates Letchworth's connection to this remarkable artist.”

Richard Smith was born in 1931 in Letchworth Garden City, and lives and works in Long Island. He attended art school in Luton and St Albans before attending the Royal College of Art from 1954 to 1957, where he was a precursor of the generation of Pop artists that included David Hockney, Allen Jones and Patrick Caulfield. His work is held in the collections of Tate, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the collection of David Bowie. Richard Smith was a regular visitor to Andy Warhol’s Factory during the 1980s and his close friends included John Lennon, Joe Tilson and John Hoyland. Smith has had solo exhibitions at: Green Gallery (1961, New York), Whitechapel Gallery (1966, London), Modern Art Oxford (1972, Oxford), Hayward Gallery (1973, London), Tate Gallery (retrospective, 1975, London), and is now represented by Flowers Gallery. He represented Britain at the 35th Venice Biennale in 1970.










Today's News

February 20, 2016

For the first time the Rijksmuseum presents a large selection of its diverse fashion collection

'To Kill a Mockingbird' author Harper Lee dies at 89: Spokeswoman for Harper Collins

MoMA announces the first comprehensive U.S. retrospective of Francis Picabia

Best-selling Italian writer and philospher Umberto Eco dies aged 84: Italian media

The Hieronymus Bosch debate: Authorship of Christ Carrying the Cross questioned

Exhibition of works by Edward S. Curtis opens at the Palm Springs Art Museum

Mario Puzo's 'Godfather' archive sold for $625,000 at Boston-based RR Auction sale

Pace London presents The Calder Prize 2005-2015 at 6 Burlington Gardens

Exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery focuses on the world-changing designs of Albers and the Bauhaus

Important 19th century landscapist subject of long overdue international survey exhibition

Ground-breaking exhibition on mashup culture occupies entire Vancouver Art Gallery

Major outdoor and indoor exhibition of works by Steve Tobin debuts at Cheekwood

New public gallery opens in Letchworth Garden City with an exhibition of Richard Smith

Goss-Michael Foundation announces relocation within Dallas Design District

Exhibition of new works by Los Angeles-based artist James Welling opens at Regen Projects

10 That Changed America: New three-part series to debut on PBS

Kipling to Jinnah: Mumbai's crumbling colonial homes

Lynn Surry named President of The Al Hirschfeld Foundation

Tiwani Contemporary presents Gareth Nyandoro's first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom

Exhibition of new works by New York-based artist Garth Weiser opens at Simon Lee Gallery

Artium, Basque Contemporary Art Centre-Museum presents PIGS

Small Works: More or Less: Group exhibition opens at Nancy Margolis Gallery

Archival exhibition of works on paper by Cary Leibowitz opens at INVISIBLE-EXPORTS

Addison exhibits Laurie Simmons's pioneering photographic series In and Around the House




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful