Portland Gallery
Tom and Jane Hewlett, of the Portland Gallery in Mayfair, London, stepped down from their positions as directors of the business at the beginning of the month.
The gallery has been transferred to an Employee Ownership Trust and will now be run by a team of employees headed by Jamie Anderson, formerly of Waterhouse and Dodd. He joined at the beginning of the year.
Hewlett, who founded the business in 1984, said: “The last 38 years have been an exciting and hugely enjoyable time which has enabled us to meet wonderful people, make good friends and to deal with inspiring paintings and sculpture.”
The gallery specialises in Modern British and Contemporary paintings.
Thirsk Hall
Thirsk Hall.
Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden is reopening with a new indoor gallery space and an outdoor exhibition of works by contemporary artist Jeff Lowe.
The show runs until July 2, featuring large-scale architecturally inspired works outside. Indoors are Lowe’s works on paper and maquettes. Last year the garden, launched in 2021 by art dealer Willoughby Gerrish, attracted 3000 visitors.
Runjeet Singh
Dr Maël Baussand.
Asian arms, armour and works of art dealer Runjeet Singh has appointed Dr Maël Baussand as gallery manager. She accompanies the dealership to Pagoda, a new fair in Paris, and TEFAF Maastricht, where Singh previously stood as a showcase dealer and now joins the full fair. Singh says that Baussand “has a dual background in literature and fine art but has fallen in love with Asian art and has thrown herself into researching new acquisitions”.
Modernity
Modernity, a 20th century Nordic design gallery based in Stockholm and London, is closing its Notting Hill location. The gallery opened the Westbourne Grove showroom last September. It had previously been in Mayfair’s Cavendish Square, its first London location which opened in February 2020. It says that it plans to move to a new central London address.
BADA Friends
Geoffrey Munn, the BADA Friends chairman.
The next BADA Friends event is a walk around Brompton Cemetery hosted by the organisation’s chairman, Geoffrey Munn, formerly of Wartski. Attendees will visit the graves of Emmeline Pankhurst, the Suffragette leader, Richard Tauber, the Austrian tenor and John ‘Gentleman’ Jackson, the prize-fighter who taught Lord Byron to box. More information and tickets are available online.
