Victorian London : Mapping the Emergence of the Modern Art Gallery

W.B. Paterson’s Gallery

William Bell Paterson was born in Glasgow in 1852. He opened a gallery at 33 Renfield Street in Glasgow in 1892, selling Barbizon and Hague School paintings, as well as the work of the Glasgow School. He opened a London branch at 5 Old Bond Street in 1900, briefly as a partner with Norman Forbes (Hamilton, 205). Advertisements for exhibitions at “Forbes and Paterson’s Gallery” at 5 Old Bond Street first appear in the Times in 1900; by 1903, the space is identified as “W.B. Paterson’s Gallery” (Times, 29 June 1903, 1). In 1904, he sold the Glasgow business and moved permanently to London (Hamilton, 205). Advertisements in the Times continue to list the Paterson Gallery at 5 Old Bond Street through February 1931; an advertisement on 12 May 1931 is the first to locate the gallery at 22 Old Bond Street.

Address: 5 Old Bond St

Start Date: by 1904 [by 1900]*

End Date: at least 1914 [1931]

Dealer: William Bell Paterson (1859-1952)

Selected exhibitions

Selected pictures by British 18th c. Masters (1900; as Forbes and Paterson’s Gallery) [Times, 6 June 1900, 1]

The great sacred picture “Christ with Martha and Mary” by J. Vermeer (1901; as Forbes and Paterson’s Gallery) [Times, 23 April 1901, 1]

Pictures by Dutch Painters of the XVII Century (1903) [Times, 29 June 1903, 1]

Silver and Furniture of the Georgian Period (1904) [Times, 6 June 1904, 1]

Water colour drawings by contemporary artists of the English and Scottish schools: George Clausen, A.R.A., R.W.S … [et al] (February-March 1905) [NAL]

Collection of choice Japanese colour prints (June-July 1906) [NAL]

Pictures by Paul Maitland (July 1907) [NAL]

Drawings in charcoal and watercolor by the late Seymour Haden (November & December 1910) [NAL]

Exhibition of paintings by Geoffrey Nelson (1930) [Times, 13 November 1930, 1]

Exhibition catalogues: National Art Library, London

Sources

Hamilton, Vivien, ed. Millet to Matisse: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century French Paintings from Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow. London and New Haven: Yale University Press, in association with Glasgow Museums, 2002.

*The dates that appear in the heading are those identified as securely documented “start” and “end” dates when the map animation was created. Additional research has extended the time span that the gallery can be documented at this address.