Watts Gallery

Watts Gallery
Construction
Watts Gallery (restored)
Watts Gallery Location within Surrey
Location	Compton, Surrey
Coordinates	51°13′17″N 0°37′45″W / 51.2213°N 0.6293°W / 51.2213; -0.6293
Owner	Watts Gallery Trust
Type	Art gallery
Genre(s)	Single artist
Built	1903
Opened	1 April 1904 (1904-04-01)
Expanded	1906
Architect	Christopher Hatton Turnor
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated	4 June 1975
Reference no.	1188403


Website
www.wattsgallery.org.uk

Watts Gallery – Artists' Village is an art gallery in the village of Compton, near Guildford in Surrey. It is dedicated to the work of the Victorian-era painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts.

The gallery has been Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List for England since June 1975.^[1]

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History

Watts moved to "Limnerslease" in Compton in 1891, and with his artist wife, Mary Fraser-Tytler, planned a museum devoted to his work, which opened in April 1904, just before his death.

The architect of the Gallery was Christopher Hatton Turnor, an admirer of Edwin Lutyens and C.F.A. Voysey. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, the building contains top-lit galleries that allow Watts's work to be displayed under natural light.

It is one of only a few galleries in the UK devoted to a single artist and is often hailed as a national gallery in the heart of a village. The present director is Alistair Burtenshaw^[2] and the curator is Dr Cicely Robinson.^[3] Former curators include Dr Nicholas Tromans, Wilfrid Blunt, Richard Jefferies and Mark Bills. Watts Gallery is a registered charity under English law.^[4]

Watts Gallery was placed second in the final of the BBC TV series Restoration Village in 2006.

In January 2008, it was announced that the Gallery intended to deaccession and sell two Victorian paintings, Sleeping Woman (1880) by Albert Joseph Moore and Triumph of Love (1871) by Edward Burne-Jones, which had both been bequeathed to the collection by Cecil French. These were duly sold. The money was used to maintain the Gallery which was closed from September 2008 until 2010 for restoration.^[5]

In December 2006, Watts Gallery received a £4.3 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for renovations to help safeguard the future of the building and its collections.

Watts Gallery reopened in June 2011 after a major scheme of works, including extension, refurbishment and restoration. Visitors can now experience the Watts collection in the historic galleries displaying the original decorative schemes.

Over one-hundred paintings by G. F. Watts are on permanent display at the Gallery. Spanning a period of 70 years they include portraits, landscapes and his major symbolic works. From the dramatic entrance of the Livanos Gallery to the monumental sculpture and studio artefacts in the Sculpture Gallery, Watts Gallery shows the collection left by the artist as his legacy.

In January 2016, Watts Gallery opened the newly renovated "Limnerslease", the former home and studio of G. F. and Mary Watts, completing the Artists' Village.^[6]

Compton's burial ground, nearby, houses Watts' remains and is dominated by the ornate Arts & Crafts Watts Mortuary Chapel, designed by Watts' wife Mary, also run by the museum.

In 2017, Surrey County Council was the subject of some controversy when it agreed to provide a grant to the gallery of £100,000 per annum over 4 years to make up for loss of grants from elsewhere, at a time when the council were making cuts of £34 million to local services.^[7]

De Morgan Foundation

Following the closure of the De Morgan Centre, London, in the summer of 2014, the Watts Gallery and the De Morgan Foundation, a registered charity^[8] preserving the work of William De Morgan and Evelyn De Morgan, entered into a collaboration which saw the opening of a long term exhibition in the Richard Jeffries Gallery in the main gallery building.^[9] This exhibition includes a number of key works from the De Morgan Collection.

References

^ Historic England, "Watts Gallery (1188403)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 4 January 2018
^ "Alistair Burtenshaw Appointed New Director of The Watts Gallery Trust - Artlyst". Artlyst. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
^ "New in Post". www.wattsgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
^ "WATTS GALLERY, registered charity no. 313612". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
^ Watts Gallery to sell works - The Art Newspaper
^ "Watts Studios". www.wattsgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
^ McKeon, Christopher (11 October 2017). "Lib Dems attack struggling council's £400k grant to art gallery". getsurrey.
^ "DE MORGAN FOUNDATION, registered charity no. 310004". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
^ "De Morgan Collection at the Watts Gallery".

External links

v t e George Frederic Watts
Paintings	Found Drowned (1850) Mammon (1885) The Minotaur (1885) Hope (1886) The All-Pervading (1890) After the Deluge (1891)
Sculpture	Physical Energy (1902)
Related	Ellen Terry (first wife) Mary Fraser Tytler (Mary Seton Watts, second wife) Holland Park Circle Little Holland House Watts Gallery Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice

v t e Borough of Guildford
Towns, villages, most notable neighbourhoods and hamlets	Albury Artington Ash Ash Vale Burntcommon Burpham Chilworth Compton East Clandon East Horsley Effingham Fairlands Farley Green Gomshall Guildford Holmbury St Mary Jacobs Well Merrow Normandy Ockham Peaslake Pirbright Puttenham Ripley St Martha Seale Send Shackleford Shalford Shere Stoughton Tongham Wanborough West Clandon West Horsley Wisley Wood Street Village Worplesdon
Parks and public woodlands	Albury Park Clandon Park Hatchlands Park On the Greensand Ridge The Hurtmoor Winterfold Forest Ockham Park Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons Seale Chalk Pit Silent Pool On the North Downs Newlands Corner St Martha's Hill wooded slopes of the Hog's Back Stoke Park Sutton Place Wanborough Grange RHS Garden, Wisley
Places of worship	Old St Peter and St Paul's Church, Albury St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth Guildford Cathedral Holy Trinity Church, Guildford St Martha's Church St Nicolas' Church, Guildford St Mary's Church, Guildford Watts Cemetery Chapel
Education	Academy of Contemporary Music Ash Manor School Christ's College, Guildford George Abbot School Guildford College Guildford County School Guildford High School Guildford School of Acting Howard of Effingham School King's College, Guildford Knowl Hill School Merrist Wood College Ripley Court School Royal Grammar School St Peter's School Tormead School University of Law University of Surrey
Transport	Ash railway station Ash Vale railway station Chilworth railway station Clandon railway station Effingham Junction railway station Gomshall railway station Guildford bus station Guildford railway station Horsley railway station London Road (Guildford) railway station Shalford railway station Tongham railway station Wanborough railway station Worplesdon railway station
Buildings and structures	Abbot's Hospital Chilworth Manor Clandon Park House Electric Theatre G Live Guildford Castle Guildford Guildhall Guildford House Guildford Museum Guildford Spectrum Hogs Back Brewery Pirbright Institute Royal Surrey County Hospital Sports Ground, Woodbridge Road, Guildford The Undercroft Watts Gallery Wisley Airfield Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Sport	Charlotteville Cycling Club Guildford City F.C. Guildford Crows Aussie Rules FC Guildford Flames Merrow F.C. Surrey Storm Surrey Scorchers Tongham F.C.
People	List of people from Guildford

This page was last edited on 27 April 2024, at 15:26

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