Free Society of Artists
The Free Society of Artists was an 18th century British artists' association based in London .
history
The artists of the Free Society of Artists - like the Society of Artists of Great Britain founded in 1760 - split off from the Royal Society of Arts founded in 1754 . The artists' union existed in London from 1765 with its own exhibition rooms, between 1761 and 1783. With this, the Royal Society of Arts lost some of its best artists. However, it was not until 1763 that the new society was officially registered at the Court of King's Bench as number 154 under its full name Free Society of Artists, Associated for the Relief of the Distressed and Decayed Brethren, their Widows and Children .
Initially, the company stayed with the Royal Society of Arts (also: The Spring Garden Society ) in the shared exhibition rooms of the Adelphi Building on Spring Gardens . After completing her last group exhibition in 1764, however, she moved to Maiden Lane in Covent Garden , where she stayed in 1765 and 1766. In 1767 she had modern exhibition rooms (Great Exhibition Rooms) in the newly opened Christie’s auction house in Cumberland House in Pall Mall , where the company stayed until 1774. Most recently, the Künstlerbund moved again to St. Albans Street in 1775 , but there was only one, the last, exhibition there.
The Catalog of the Paintings, Sculptures, Models, Drawings, Engravings, etc. 1761-1783 was published for the annual exhibitions, which always took place in spring and lasted one month . The exhibitions were financed from the proceeds.
One of the first members of the Free Society of Artists was the painter John Parker . The name of the hundred members for 1763 can be found in John Pye's book Patronage of British art , published in 1845 .
literature
- Algernon Graves: The Society of Artists of Great Britain, 1760-1791; The Free Society of Artists, 1761-1783; A complete dictionary of contributors and their work from the foundation of the societies to 1791 , G. Bell and Sons Verlag, London 1907, digitized
Individual evidence
- ^ Benedict Nicolson : Joseph Wright of Derby . Painter of light , Volume 1, Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art - 1968, page 3 ( digitized version )
- ^ John Pye: Patronage of British Art. An historical sketch , 1845, page 126 ( digitized version )
- ^ Georg Friedrich Koch: The Art Exhibition , 1967, page 205 ( excerpt )
- ^ Walter Gilbey: George Morland His Life and Works , London 1907, page 244 ( digitized version )
- ^ Charles Robert Leslie , Tom Taylor: Life and times of Sir Joshua Reynolds , 1865, 180 ( digitized version )
- ^ New edition, Verlag BiblioBazaar, 2010, ISBN 1145280803 or ISBN 9781145280809
- ^ John Pye: Patronage of British Art , p. 285 ( digitized version )