Victorian London : Mapping the Emergence of the Modern Art Gallery

Data » Gallery List


Bassano's Galleries


Bassano’s Galleries was originally included in the data set on the basis of its appearance in The Year’s Art, where it was listed as an exhibition space in the 1880s. In 1881, it hosted a “collection of Tapestry, Sculpture, Carved Wood-Work,” (TYA 1882, p. 48) while in 1884 it exhibited “Portraits in Oil.” (TYA 1885, p. 60). However, Bassano’s was a photographic studio rather than a commercial art gallery in the sense the term is here defined. A long description of the studio in Henry Baden Pritchard’s book The Studios of Europe describes a luxurious space, meant to attract upper-class clients. The business is described as “a handsome suite of rooms on the first floor in a fashionable thoroughfare, a clientele that troubles you only in the season, and sitters who do not object to pay well for the attention they receive” (80). As was the case with high-end galleries such as the Grosvenor, the first floor was devoted to a set of reception rooms, while the artistic work of the business – the dressing rooms and photo studio – were on the second floor. In the first-floor lounges examples of Bassano’s work were on view, including “some magnificent carbon enlargements ... rather larger than life-size,” including pictures of the Duke of Connaught and the Duchesse de Marino, and “as a matter of course, there are oil paintings and crayons to be seen, all executed upon a photographic basis” (80, 81). The description also notes several busts in the room, the work of Bassano, who was apparently a sculptor as well as a photographer. These features of the reception room were presumably the reason the space was listed as an exhibition venue for a period of time, although there is no indication that these objects were for sale. The National Portrait Gallery’s website states that Bassano’s firm was located on Old Bond Street from 1876 until 1921.

Address: 25 Old Bond St.

Start Date: by 1881 [by 1876?]*

End Date: at least 1888 [at least 1921?]*

Dealer: Alexander Bassano (1829-1913)

Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Bassano
[Includes a photograph of him]
[DNI: Just link his name; no need for url to appear]

Sources

“Alexander Bassano (1829-1913).” National Portrait Gallery, London. [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp50187/alexander-bassano]
Accessed 30 August 2012.

Pritchard, Henry Baden. The Studios of Europe (New York: E. & T. H. Anthony & Co., 1882.

*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.

Unless otherwise noted, the documentation of a gallery’s start and end dates at a location is drawn from listings in The Year’s Art.


How to cite:
Pamela Fletcher and David Israel, London Gallery Project, 2007; Revised September 2012.
http://learn.bowdoin.edu/fletcher/london-gallery/

Bowdoin College