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This short history of the society was written in 1999 to celebrate the 125th anniversary of its founding as the Ipswich Fine Art Club.

The Ipswich Art Society is one of Suffolk's foremost exhibiting organisations for painters, sculptors and printmakers and one which has played a distinguished role in the cultural life of Suffolk's county town for a century and a quarter. Indeed, outside of London itself, it can claim to be one of the longest established art-societies in the country.

Its 125th anniversary is being celebrated with two exhibitions in Christchurch Mansion during July, August, September and October of works by members past and present. Also with this year's Annual Open Exhibition at the Robert Cross Hall which was at the end of May and a Print Fair in the Tourist Information Centre in April. Perhaps even more propitiously there has been the launch by the Society of the "ART at Saint Nicholas" project in July.

All of which makes it an appropriate time to look back at how the Society began, how it developed and how it changed over the years. What follows in no way pretends to be a comprehensive history. Hopefully, it will provide some context and background for the wide variety of artworks being displayed this year in the Society's name.

Early Days

The idea of establishing what was originally called the Ipswich Fine Art Club was mooted when Edward Packard and John Duvall were sketching by the river in 1873. A meeting was called and seven potential members gathered in the Ipswich Museum, then in Museum Street. A second meeting was held in January 1874. A committee was formed and rules put forward which were later agreed. It was not long before the members resolved to hold a public exhibition and the first one was mounted in the Lecture Hall in Tower Street in January 1875. Later that year, the principal of the Ipswich Art School, W. T. Griffiths, arranged for life drawing classes to be held at the School for the benefit of the the new Club's members. This established the first of many close links between the two institutions over the years to follow (in 1885 Griffiths agreed to become the Club's President).

The early Minute Books of the Ipswich Fine Art Club make fascinating reading. They have all been hand-written, generally in a Victorian copperplate script. The pages in presenting a far from dry and academic recital of facts and dates manage to convey day to day happenings together with something of the character and personality of those who were the Club's officers and committee members.

Many of the great names in Suffolk painting were included among the members of the club and a number were elected to its committee. To succeed, any Society must rely to a large extent on its honorary officers and in this respect the Ipswich Fine Art Club appears to have been exceptionally fortunate. The Presidents, Chairmen, Secretaries, Treasurers etc. have had the ability and enthusiasm to organise and administer the Club's affairs while encouraging and inspiring the membership. In some cases they were professional artists of more than local repute, in others they were, in the best sense of the word, "amateurs". Both gave unstintingly of their time, in some cases for half a century or more, in order to advance the cause of art in the region.

In this connection the name of Sir Edward Packard is pre-eminent but many other well known personalities appear among the membership in the early years. F. G. Cotman, D.Tollemache, E. R. Smythe and his younger brother Tom, John Duvall, W. R. Symonds, Harry Becker and Alfred Munnings (the only East Anglian artist to have become President of the Royal Academy) were all contributors to the annual exhibitions.

The art gallery in High Street

The success of what were to become the Club's annual exhibitions prompted the first Secretary, Edward Packard, to follow up a suggestion made by Sidney Colvin in a lecture at the Temperance Hall in 1877 that the Club should establish a permanent art gallery and picture collection for Ipswich. The gallery was to be designed and devoted to the needs of the Club and its exhibitions. In those days these included its shows of Old Masters as well as eminent contemporary artists. The previously used Lecture Hall was thought unsuitable on the grounds of lighting and general facilities. But in 1878 the first picture was bought for the collection and a building fund started. A lease on land next to Ipswich's new museum in High Street was purchased and the gallery opened in 1880 with the sixth annual exhibition of member's work. The "picture gallery" was designed by the architect of the museum to be sympathetic with the style of its neighbour and although now no longer used for pictures it has recently been integrated successfully into the larger building.

The cost of getting it built, estimated at £1000, turned out to be nearer £1200 thereby creating a liability that took years to clear. The most original of the Club's attempts to do so, and raise money for improvements, took place in 1892. "Ye Burgh of Ipswiche in Olden Time and Fancy Faire" was held in the Public Hall and lasted for five days in October. There were stalls and a programme of recreations, concerts and dancing with a number of "Tableaux Vivants". The takings from the five days amounted to £600. The printed programme sported, for possibly the first time, the Ipswich Fine Art Club logo which is still in use. Additions and improvements were made to the Gallery to provide a Committee room which was also used as a reading room with art books and periodicals. This was regularly used by members until 1915.

In 1911, the year of the coronation of King George V, another major effort was made to raise funds. A grand Elizabethan Costume Ball was held in Christchurch Mansion. Supper was served in the house and on the lawns. Fourteen prominent townsmen between them contributed the sum of £140 and together with the profits from the ball these moneys enabled the Club to settle the remaining debt on its building.

1914 saw the outbreak of the Great War. Soldiers were billeted in the Gallery in 1915/16 and then it was leased for industrial workshop use requiring the Annual Exhibition to be relocated and then suspended for two years. Meanwhile, the picture collection was sold in aid of the Mayor's Fund for the Wounded and was only restarted in 1981. The Gallery remained in the Club's possession until 1934 when the lease was surrendered to Ipswich Corporation. A survey had shown a considerable amount of repair work was necessary and the Club could not afford it. Exhibitions continued there until 1975 but the Club no longer had its "own home".

Special exhibitions

During its history the Club has staged a number of distinguished special exhibitions. The first opened in June 1880 at the newly built Art Gallery and consisted of 57 Old and Modern Masters lent by one of the Club's patrons, Sir Richard Wallace of Sudbourne Hall. It was the only occasion that pictures from the world-famous Wallace collection (now in London) have ever been loaned to another gallery. With help from the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Club also staged a major show of Constable, Gainsborough and "Old Suffolk Artists" in 1887 and again a particularly important bi-centenary exhibition of Gainsborough in 1927. Apart from these special exhibitions the Club often mounted smaller ones within the main annual exhibition and in 1913 a few works by pupils of the Ipswich School of Art were shown including five by Leonard Squirrell. Then a student, he was to become a member of the Club and serve for forty two years on its committee.

The start of the Second World War was anticipated by a meeting held in August 1939 which decided to postpone the exhibition for 1940 "until times seemed more propitious". However, in the event, there was a gap of only one year.

In 1945 Anna Airy became the President of the Ipswich Art Club (the "Fine" was dropped in 1925 as "superfluous"). This was the first time there had been a woman President and also the first time for many years that the President was a professional artist. One of the most talented and versatile artists of her generation, Ann Airy is outstanding in the history of the Art Club. She was equally at home in oils, water-colours, pastels, etching and a variety of drawing media. There were few areas of the Club's activities which were not influenced by her enthusiastic interest and support. A powerful and commanding figure, she was a frequent and outspoken critic of much of what she called "modern art". She was impatient with anything which fell outside the standards of draughtsmanship and skill she set herself.

At about this time significant differences of opinion arose about the type of work which should be included in the Club's exhibitions. This influenced the relationship between the Club and the School of Art. The minutes indicate that the more adventurous forms of art were discouraged by the President and not a few of the Committee. This traditionalism was resented by some within the Club and by others who taught at the Art School. This caused a rift between the two institutions and established an unfortunate reactionary image of the Club that persisted for many years.

When Anna Airy died in 1964 the Committee recorded that during her twenty years of office she had done more than could have been expected of any President and the Club would never have another like her. To commemorate her interest in young artists, funds were raised for an Anna Airy Award Competition open to any exhibitor under 25 who had work shown in the Annual Exhibition. Nowadays, the award is so prestigious that it merits a biennial exhibition of its own to select the winners.

The end of an era - part 1

The School of Art had lost its independent status in 1959 when it became part of the Ipswich Civic College and shortly after lost its status as an undergraduate painting and sculpture school. Local government reorganisation in 1974 caused the Civic College to change its title to the Suffolk College when the County Council assumed control and the School of Art became the Department of Art and Design.

The Centenary of the Club was celebrated in 1974 with a Dinner held in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall. The President of the Royal Academy, Sir Thomas Monnington, was guest speaker. Sadly, the Club's President, gifted artist Edward Seago, died before the event took place and Wallace Morphy was elected to serve as the next President. It fell to him to host the Anniversary Dinner, which he did with some distinction.

Ipswich's Corn Exchange, formerly a provision market, had been refurbished and was reopened as an exhibition and concert complex by the Duke of Gloucester in 1975. The inaugural exhibition in the new Robert Cross Hall was the Club's Centenary Exhibition and in subsequent years this has become the regular venue for the Society's annual shows.

In 1979 there was an exhibition at Christchurch Mansion to celebrate Leonard Squirell's 86th birthday. Although widely travelled in Britain and Europe, he spent much of his life in his home town of Ipswich where he was a revered teacher at the School of Art. He exhibited for sixty years at the Royal Academy and for sixty five years with the Ipswich Art Club. Working in a variety of media, this prolific and meticulous topographical artist gained a genuinely popular reputation both internationally and among a numerous East Anglian following. Troubled by a persistent stammer, he avoided carefully all gatherings and functions. However, deeply moved by his reception at the opening of his exhibition in a Wolsey Gallery packed with admirers, he found himself rising to his feet and, to his astonishment, successfully delivering an impromptu speech.

The end of an era - part 2

Another memorable retrospective was that for Cor Visser in 1983. Cor Visser was born in Spaarndam in Holland and entered the Harlem Academy of Art at the age of fourteen. From the age of twenty five he lived aboard a seagoing yacht on the Zuider Zee, exhibiting in most of the Duch towns. In 1937 he sailed to the East Coast of England. At the outbreak of war in 1939, he was on the Orwell and unable to return to Holland. He moored at Ipswich, and with the exception of a few wartime years spent in London as Official War Artist to the Dutch Government in exile, was to spend the rest of his life here. Holland's loss was Ipswich's gain. As well as continuing actively as an artist, Cor taught a group from his barge at the old 'Dock End' and later from his house in Fore Street. Among them were Ken Cuthbert, Anthea Durose and Verity Wookey, all of whom have had distinguished careers in art. Cor Visser had a hugh reputation in Holland, though he is less well known here. Some of his work can be seen in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Cor died in 1982. The Club had approached him some time earlier about mounting a retrospective along the lines of the Squirell exhibition but had received the reply "I don't really have much to show". After his death around 250 pictures were found in his house (and many were not particularly small) from which a commemorative show was selected.

In 1981 a big retrospective for Colin Moss was shown at the reorganised Wolsey Gallery in Christchurch Mansion. Colin was born in Ipswich in 1914 returning to the town after World War II in 1947 to take up a teaching post at the School of Art. His powerful draughtsmanship, Fauvist palette and feeling for expressionism (fuelled by studying with Oscar Kokoshka in Salzburg) had a considerable influence on his students. He retired from teaching in 1979 but is still an active and prolific artist. From early days when Anna Airy and he had many a dispute until his recent Presidency he has been a loyal and influential member of the Society.

Anna Airy's work was celebrated in an acclaimed and significant show in

1985 at Christchurch Mansion. Both the Airy family and Ipswich Borough Council made major contributions to the exhibition which also included, in sketch or final form, four of her works commissioned for the Imperial War Museum.

New beginnings

During its long life the Society ("Club" was changed to "Society" in 1993 to accomodate the idea of associate members who need not be practitioners) has experienced many vicissitudes and changes of circumstance. By the late 1980's it had fallen to a rather low ebb. Committee meetings had dwindled to barely three a year and virtually its sole activity was the annual exhibition.

However, David Thompson as Chairman and Richard Woolett as Secretary set about, together with President T. W. (Bill) Ward, trying to revitalise the Club and raise the Annual Exhibition's somewhat provincial profile by reviving a lapsed tradition of including distinguished "guest" artists (these included three R.A's. in Carel Weight, Peter Coker and Dame Elizabeth Frink). Catalogues were redesigned, winter programmes organised, the name changed and two new fixtures launched in the Anna Airy Award Exhibition and the Printmakers' Fair.

These changes coincided with Bernard Reynolds accepting the Presidency. Bernard with his practical skills and background of long service as a lecturer at the Art School initiated better links with the Suffolk College's Department of Art and Design and was a great supporter of the Society.

The Society had been fortunate to gain the practical services of a very young Andrew Casey who had been working single handedly to stimulate the Ipswich "art scene". Andrew had organised some remarkable showcases for up and coming young artists in the area under the title of "Young Blood". Their quality and continuity were achieved by Andrew with crusading zeal. Subsequently, Andrew Casey was elected Chairman of the Society in 1994 and served for two energetic years before standing down to concentrate on his teaching and other activities as ceramics scholar and author.

The works of many past members of Ipswich Fine Art Club seem to attract renewed popular interest. In 1993 it was the turn of Harry Becker (1865-1928) and Christchurch Mansion asked David Thompson to curate a major exhibition in the Wolsey Gallery. Born in Colchester, Becker was the son of a German immigrant who sent him to the Royal Academy Schools in Antwerp before going to study in Paris. Here he came under the influence of artists such as Manet and Degas. He returned to this country in 1886 and became a member of Ipswich Fine Art Club in 1890. His work, particularly his studies of working horses and agricultural labourers, is now becoming ever more sought after and admired.

Consolidation and further developments

Myra Finch, a Friend of the Society, was elected to Chair the Society's Executive Committee in 1996. After a few months of getting to know its workings she concentrated on raising awareness of the Society through increased publicity and on communication with the membership. This resulted, by April 1999, in an increase of over 33% in the number of Members and Friends.

With the arrival of Richard Pinkney on the Committee in the autumn of 1997, a more ambitious programme of events was undertaken. In 1998, as well as the Anna Airy Award Exhibition and the Annual Open Exhibition, he arranged a show of members' water-colours at the Haste Gallery. This at the invitation of the proprietor Jack Haste, himself once an exceptionally long serving Secretary of the Art Club. An exhibition of drawings by Members and Friends followed at the Steeple End Gallery in Halesworth. This was the first time the Society had ever ventured beyond the Borough boundary to show. It attracted such approval that it is hoped it may become a regular event. The Print Fair was reinstated in 1999 and a commitment by the Society was entered into to hold biennially a sculpture/3D exhibition and an invitation show besides the existing regular events.

The Society had taken the plunge in 1996 and acquired a computer and printer which enabled the Committee to raise its typographical standards generally and in particular revive the Newsletter thereby keeping the membership regularly informed of the Committee's activities and aspirations, circulating news and views whilst promoting the forthcoming programme of events.

ART at St Nicholas

The brilliant achievement in the early years of the "Club" of building its own gallery and the long years of distinguished use it was put to had stayed in the Society's collective memory. Since 1975, a modern Borough facility, the Robert Cross Hall, had been used for Annual Exhibitions but the feeling of homelessness remained. In the spring of 1998, a small group met with the positive aim of finding premises and out of that initiative came an approach to the Ipswich Historic Churches Trust who manage various redundent churches in Ipswich for the Borough Council. It seemed St. Nicholas might be available. The building was in a reasonable state of repair with a vestry that might convert to an office, sufficient space to establish an exhibition facility immediately, lots of future potential and it was only a couple of minutes walk from the town centre in an area of civic regeneration. This looked like the ideal solution. The membership were consulted. A lease was agreed with the Trust and signed in April 1999. ART at St. Nicholas came into being and the Society had a fresh home.

The first exhibition opened at the beginning of July. Called "First Choice", each and every Member and Friend of the Society was invited to contribute one favourite piece of their own work to a three-part show that will continue into September. Thus, it is a celebration of the Society's new found confidence and of its 125 years of unbroken creative achievement.

[This is the point where the original publication ended. The next section covers developments that have occurred since it was written.]

Postscript: events since 1999

Unfortunately, although Art at St. Nicholas got off to a marvellous start, it was not to continue. In February 2000, Ipswich Borough Council unexpectedly received an offer for the building which had been empty for many years prior to the Art Society's involvement. They accepted the offer. Although the Society could have insisted on remaining for the rest of the short-term lease that had been agreed the previous year, it was decided that the resources of the Society were better used in other ways and the building was relinquished immediately. Saint Nicholas has been taken over, together with the adjacent Churchgate office block, by the Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich and is to be used for conferences, exhibitions and administrative purposes.

Gill Thomas took over the chair from Myra Finch in September 1999. Her particular policy is to re-establish the Society's old links with Ipswich School of Art, which has now evolved into the Department of Art and Design at Suffolk College. Many of our members have attended classes at Suffolk College and a considerable number have been or are tutors there. She is also concerned to strengthen our existing links with Christchurch Mansion. Works by our members past and present have been exhibited there both in the Wolsey Gallery and in the Room Upstairs. Work by our members forms a significant part of the Collection at the Mansion, and at the Wolsey Gallery we all benefit from being able to see exhibitions known throughout the country for their excellence. Our three institutions, the Art Society, Suffolk College and the Mansion all offer varied arts opportunities in the district and collaboration enriches all.

Acknowledgements

Thanks go to all the members and supporters of the Society and the "Club" who over the years have been contributors, subscribers and patrons. They have made the past 125 years of the Society's history possible and meaningful and it is they who will make the Society's future progressive and significant.

Also many thanks to Adrian Parry for his archival skills and dedication and to Gill Thomas, David Thompson, Myra Finch and Richard Pinkney for their work on this publication.

Credit for extra material to update this on-line version goes to Gill Thomas and Myra Finch. Thanks also to the Ipswich Museums Service for allowing us to reproduce the work of some illustrious past members of the Society. Christchurch Mansion houses Ipswich Borough Council's excellent collection of fine and decorative arts. The Suffolk Artist Gallery displays work by notable Suffolk artists including an outstanding collection of works by Thomas Gainsborough and John Constable. Many works in the collection are by past members of the Ipswich Art Society. Free entry. Tel 01473 433554.