Over many years Osborne Samuel Gallery has curated
ambitious exhibitions such as the 2022 survey which
examined the impact of influential post war curator
Lilian Somerville. We continue the series with an
exhibition built around the contribution to British art of
the 20th century by the influential collector Margaret
Gardiner and her legacy.
Unlike Lilian Somerville who worked within the realms of
the British Council and its exhibition programme, Margaret
Gardiner was a private individual whose philanthropy
was generous, personal and broad, as were her interests
and her circle of friends. She met and developed
friendships with key artists from the early 1930's onwards,
most significantly becoming close friends with Barbara
Hepworth and later Ben Nicholson, supporting and buying
their work at the beginning of their careers. Other artists
who she sought out and encouraged were Peter Lanyon,
Naum Gabo, Eduardo Paolozzi, William Scott, Patrick
Heron, Roger Hilton, Alfred Wallis, John Wells and many
more. She never wanted to be called a collector but
nonetheless assembled one of the most important groups
of 20th century British art in private hands.
What is even more surprising is that she then gifted it to
the people of Orkney in the far north of Scotland, bringing
the museum that would house her collection, the Pier Arts
Centre, into reality through sheer tenacity and generosity.
Photo: Gallery installation courtesy of the Pier Arts Centre
Published on the occasion of the exhibition
at Osborne Samuel Gallery, London
16 October – 8 November 2024
www.osbornesamuel.com
