Jermyn Street’s Open Door Series will be honouring the brands and businesses that make our street the home of gentleman’s style, and the pinnacle of British craftsmanship, by spotlighting your favourite brands, and the people behind them, as we invite you through our doors once more!
The Sladmore Gallery began life as a private collection and developed into two leading central London galleries and a sculpture garden, with their Jermyn Street premises specialising in 19th & 20th century European animalier sculpture, alongside the very best of their contemporary artists.
In the mid-1960s, Jane Horswell began assembling a private collection of bronze animal sculpture at Sladmore Farm in Buckinghamshire. What began as a private passion quickly became a fully-fledged gallery and, in 1968, they moved to a three-floor mews premises off Berkeley Square. Their Berkeley Square premises now houses Sladmore Contemporary, whereas their fully-refurbished Jermyn Street location holds their 19th and 20th century collections, alongside a selection of their finest contemporary artists.
Jane Horswell’s son, Edward Horswell, has been the director of the Sladmore Gallery since 1985, and Gerry Farrell has headed Sladmore Contemporary since 1994. Both branches specialise in the sale of fine bronze works. The Sladmore Gallery not only mounts in-depth exhibitions on individual sculptors but also puts on thematic and group shows. The gallery also has a publishing program which includes detailed monographs, exhibition catalogues and reference books on turn-of-the-century founders and the bronze casting process.
Edward himself is an internationally acknowledged expert on 20th Century Masters such as Rembrandt Bugatti, Edgar Degas and Auguste Rodin. Visitors to The Sladmore Gallery can see important bronzes by these masters, as well as pieces from the likes of Antoine-Louis Barye and Aristide Maillol. The Sladmore is known for loaning important works to museums and galleries all over the world, and also for placing monumental sculptures in private and public locations – notably Nic Fiddian-Green’s ‘Horse at Water’, famously sitting in Marble Arch and Mark Coreth’s ‘Frankel’ in Ascot. The iconic ‘Horse at Water’ has, in fact, recently moved location after 10 years at Marble Arch and is newly situated a short distance away at Achilles Way in Park Lane. It was created by Nic especially for the city, and it is the tallest free-standing bronze sculpture in London at 33ft high, weighing in at 20 tonnes. You can also view the Sladmore’s outdoor sculpture collection in their recently opened private sculpture garden adjacent to the British Museum.
In recognition of the Staedel Museum’s ‘En Passant’ exhibition, which happened last year when we were unable to travel, the Sladmore is currently hosting an exhibition of some of the works which were part of this in-depth study of impressionist sculpture. The Sladmore curators have focused on the works of five sculptors – Edgar Degas, Auguste Rodin, Paul Troubetskoy, Rembrandt Bugatti and Emile-Antoine Bourdelle – all of whom were featured in the Staedel Museum’s exhibition. This careful assemblage of such fine sculptural work is not to be missed, and you can book your appointment by email or phone +44 (0) 207 629 1144. Jermyn Street is very proud to be home to such a bastion of sculptural excellence, and we are overjoyed to see the Sladmore Gallery’s doors open once more.