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| HISTORY of the
SOCIETY |
In
the Spring of 1941, A. E. Hickman-Smith, an amateur
but professionally competent painter, feeling thoroughly fed up with
the German bombing of London, decided to do something to counter its
effects and assembled a number of artist friends, who formed the Islington Art Circle.
As soon as its first exhibition was hung in the large hall of the
Central
Library, a
landmine exploded nearby, destroying the glass roof of the hall.
Miraculously, no paintings were damaged! This was an
auspicious start for the new group.
After
A. E. Hickman-Smith’s death in 1965 the IAC was led by George and Deborah
Bunting who staged a successful Autumn Exhibition. At the close of
the
exhibition they formed a committee with artists: Geoff Wickham, Leonard
Renton, James Hardy, Sylvia Leibson, Joan Sexton and their partners.
From the beginning, this committee was determined to preserve the
quality of work. As proof of IAC’s standard, the first president was Sir Basil Spence,
of Coventry Cathedral fame. Following his death,
subsequent presidents were Sir William
Coldstream and Anthony
Green,
RA. George and Deborah Bunting continued their commitment to the
IAC
for a further 35 years until their deaths in 2000.
In
2002 the group changed its name to Islington Art Society
and held exhibitions in the small first floor gallery of the Islington Central Library until 2005. In 2006 the Society held an
exhibition in The Gallery attached to the Stoke Newington Library in Hackney. Since 2009 it has held one of its twice yearly exhibitions
in Stoke Newington and the other in the galleries of the Hornsey Library
in the nearby Borough of Haringey.
The Society has continued its tradition of
organising an annual outing whch in recent years have been to the Pavilion in Bexhill together with the Towner Gallery
in Eastbourne, the Cass Sculpture Foundation in Goodwood and to Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham. In each of the last
four years it has also been privileged to have a special evening for members at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art
After seeing its membership figures decline, with the
introduction of the new exhibition venue and a new Membership Officer in 2006, the number of members began to increase and by 2011
membership had risen by well over 100 per cent.The number of works in the exhibitions also increased dramatically in this time and the
Society is now thriving.
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