Main Content
Summary
Author: (Art Exhibition Catalogues)
Title: (A collection of 198 catalogues of art exhibitions held in London over the period 1836-1870).
Publication: London, (various imprints) 1836-70.
Price: Sold
Reference: 00752
Full Description
Small 4to. 198 catalogues bound in 6 thick volumes, mid 19th cent cloth, recased. Many of the catalogues retain their original printed wrappers. Those at the beginning of one volume are affected by an old but now fading stain, and those of larger dimensions are slightly dust-soiled at their outer margins.
This collection of catalogues, put together over a thirty-year period by J.B.Vacher, a relative of the water colour painter Charles Vacher (1818-83), includes substantial runs of catalogues of the annual exhibitions held by the Royal Academy (1837-70, lacking 1839), the Society of British Artists (1837-70, lacking 1839, 1840, 1863), the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts (1837-67, lacking 1839,1842,1865), the Society of Painters in Water Colours (1836-70, lacking1837,1839,1843,1867) and the New Society (later Institute) of Painters in Water Colours (1837-70, lacking 1838,1839,1842,1847,1852). It can be seen that although there are no catalogues for the year 1839, the collection otherwise includes all but eleven of a total of over 160 such catalogues issued over the period.It contains nearly fifty other more unusual catalogues, including those of the 1843 and 1846 exhibitions of the Birmingham Society of Artists ; the Art Union of London exhibitions of 1843, 1846-8, and 1852-5 ; three relating to cartoons and frescoes exhibited at Westminster Hall in connection with the decoration of the New Houses of Parliament ; and a number dating from the 1850s, including that of an exhibition of water colours by amateur artists "in aid of the fund for the relief of widows and orphans of British officers engaged in the war with Russia".