The Grant Fine Art Gallery, Newcastle, County Down
Margaret and Gerry Grant opened their gallery, Grant Fine Art, in the 1970s. Over the next 50 years it was to become one of Northern Ireland's premier galleries, showcasing ostensibly paintings by leading Irish artists, such as Colin Middleton, Jack B. Yeats, Basil Blackshaw, Hector McDonnell and George Campbell. However, the couple formed friendships with British artists Henry Moore, Bernard Dunston and Maggi Hambling whose work they exhibited along with European modernists, Enzo Plazzotta and Josef Herman.
The gallery supported many emerging Slade school and Chelsea school art graduates, bringing their work for the first time to an Irish audience. Through their commissions they established an Irish following for Peter Prendergast, George Rowlett, Len Tabner, Ian Rusth, Patricia Faulkner and many others.
Art critic, Andrew Lambirth, described Rowlett's Dundrum Series commissioned by Grant Fine Art, 'these paintings need to be felt as much as looked at and thought about' with the artist's technique ensuring 'every inch of the painted surface is activated, alive with light and rapturous in celebration of natural beauty.' Similarly, Lambirth applauded Josef Herman's work for his ability to depict 'the dignity of human labour' and fulfilment of his artistic aim, 'to realise the true proportion of feeling in an image'.
The gallery closed in 2022 and this auction represents the residual contents of The Grant Fine Art Gallery.
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