Art
Say hello to Spencer and Lizzie at the entrance. Admire The Boatman at the helm of the Lobby Bar. Marvel at the carved limestone head of Dionysus in reception. These distinctive pieces are part of our 400-strong private collection of contemporary art and sculpture.
Art is an integral part of the hotel’s interiors, with original pieces in every room and suite. Our larger sculptural pieces are proudly on display throughout the public spaces and are known and loved by our regular guests. The collection has evolved over our lifetime this far, and continues to grow, featuring works from British and international rising stars, as well as more established artists.
Have a glimpse at some of the collection highlights
Daisy Cook is never afraid to engage with beauty, although she is not drawn to its more obvious forms. Instead, she looks to paint places that encourage a curious imagination to soar. The landscape may be the subject, but it is not explicitly topographical or descriptive. Through a suggestion of silvery clouds and mudflats Cook evokes not a specific view or place, but an illusory habitat of the spirit. Hanging proudly in a One Aldwych bedroom, it is a meditative piece to set the scene before sleep.
One Aldwych has four early Pritchards in its collection, all identifiable by the linear use of dots and shades of green moss. Pritchard's work attempts to redefine our relationship with matter, and in this series we see the artist’s early preoccupation with the physics and geometry in nature at a molecular level. Stand back however, and at a distance there is a quiet, meditative chaos.
Although Jaroslav Rössler’s work includes some of the most progressive examples of abstract creative photography, it remained little known until the mid 1960s. Born in 1902, he was part of a group of Czech photographers and artists creating prolific work between the World Wars. During the 1920s Rössler made a series of photographs using contrasts of geometrical areas of light, shade and reflections, incorporating different shades and shapes cut from paper and card. His picture poems, photographs, collages and drawings, often influenced by Cubism, were occasionally published in avant-garde Parisian periodicals.
Toast was created by Tracy Davidson to mark her father’s imprisonment when she was a child. Her mother struggled to provide for the family and Davidson’s enduring memory of the time was burnt toast every morning for breakfast – her mother too distraught to care. The slices of toast, in many rows, represent the number of months her father was away from them, with his prisoner number marked at the centre of the piece. You can find it hanging in our restaurant, Indigo (where we don’t serve burnt toast).
Born in Dorset in 1953 and coming of age at a time of sexual emancipation and opportunities for women, Amanda Faulkner creates art that looks at the challenges of human interaction and power through a feminist lens. Drawn with a distinctive expressionist style, her individual works often represent a very personal expression of her experience as a woman.
One Aldwych owns a number of pieces by Joost Beerents as part of our permanent collection. At the start of her career, Beerents was influenced by Fra Angelico's frescoes - 'their worn, pale colours' - in Piazzo San Marco in Florence. Much of her work shows her experiments with charcoal and gouache as she developed her own techniques and style. After a debut exhibition at the SAS hotel in Amsterdam, Beerents was spotted by a London gallery who exhibited her work in the UK and internationally, and brought her to our attention.
Wendy Sutherland's paintings encourage us to stride out in the artist’s company towards an inviting horizon. Her paintings celebrate the dominating physical environments of her upbringing, the elements experienced and embraced on long walks and, more deeply, the primal energy which formed these hills, landscapes and seas. With numerous awards and solo exhibitions under her belt, Sutherland is already considered a leading figure in Scottish landscape painting.
Many of the ideas reflected in Richard Bartle's work offer an interesting dialogue with the design and ideology at One Aldwych. In the late 1990s, when this work was being made, Bartle was exploring ideas around individualism within a consumerist society – particularly identity and lifestyle as commodities. Another element that has often found its way into his work is rain - it was one of the overarching memories of his childhood in Rotherham. (And we're quite familiar with it here in London too). In his art, Bartle seeks out perfect versions of the objects he needs, multiplies them, then painstakingly cuts them out and fixes them as patterns in his imagined worlds.
Many of the ideas reflected in Richard Bartle's work offer an interesting dialogue with the design and ideology at One Aldwych. In the late 1990s, when this work was being made, Bartle was exploring ideas around individualism within a consumerist society – particularly identity and lifestyle as commodities. Another element that has often found its way into his work is rain - it was one of the overarching memories of his childhood in Rotherham. (And we're quite familiar with it here in London too). In his art, Bartle seeks out perfect versions of the objects he needs, multiplies them, then painstakingly cuts them out and fixes them as patterns in his imagined worlds.
Although Jaroslav Rössler’s work includes some of the most progressive examples of abstract creative photography, it remained little known until the mid 1960s. Born in 1902, he was part of a group of Czech photographers and artists creating prolific work between the World Wars. During the 1920s Rössler made a series of photographs using contrasts of geometrical areas of light, shade and reflections, incorporating different shades and shapes cut from paper and card. His picture poems, photographs, collages and drawings, often influenced by Cubism, were occasionally published in avant-garde Parisian periodicals.
Art meets punk! During the 1970s and 1980s Punk movement, Phillip Diggle would paint on stage at much-publicised and celebrated gigs for his brother Steve Diggle, the guitarist and vocalist in punk band Buzzcocks. His paintings are the direct outcome of intense and immediate physical actions and reactions, piling on and rubbing away paint and instinctively following the colour as the painting develops. Originally perhaps considered a counter-culture artist much like his Punk sidekicks, in recent times his modernist action paintings have been coveted by the corporate business world. You can now find Diggle's work in prominent collections such as Chase Manhattan Bank and the Rockefeller Centre New York, as well as in many boardrooms around the world.
Many of the ideas reflected in Richard Bartle's work offer an interesting dialogue with the design and ideology at One Aldwych. In the late 1990s when this work was being made, Bartle was exploring ideas around individualism within a consumerist society – particularly identity and lifestyle as commodities. Another element that has often found its way into his work is rain - it was one of the overarching memories of his childhood in Rotherham. (And we're quite familiar with it here in London too). In his art, Bartle seeks out perfect versions of the objects he needs, multiplies them, then painstakingly cuts them out and fixes them as patterns in his imagined worlds.
Now considered one of the leading contemporary British sculptors, David Breuer-Weil is also famed for his vast painted canvases, showcased in iconic locations across London. Project 1 was held at the Roundhouse, Camden; Project 2 at the Bargehouse, OXO Tower; Project 3 was held in conjunction with the Ben Uri Gallery and Museum and Project 4 was staged in The Vaults, Waterloo. Many of his works are also installed in major public spaces in London including Hampstead Heath, Hanover Square, Grosvenor Gardens and Marble Arch. Our piece, hanging in the hotel, adds another London landmark to the map.
As a young artist, Pol Bury was influenced by the Surrealist René Magritte and participated in Surrealist group exhibitions. However, after encountering the work of sculptor Alexander Calder, Bury left painting behind and would become one of the first practitioners of 'kinetic' art. His kinetic pieces were often created in steel, producing monumental balls that spun or rolled, columns that rotated, and planes that tilted, operated by concealed mechanisms. Although primarily known for this kinetic art, Bury continued to produce collages and paintings like this piece hanging in our hotel, and his work can also be seen in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Tate Modern across the bridge here in London.
Art meets punk! During the 1970s and 1980s Punk movement, Phillip Diggle would paint on stage at much-publicised and celebrated gigs for his brother Steve Diggle, the guitarist and vocalist in punk band Buzzcocks. His paintings are the direct outcome of intense and immediate physical actions and reactions, piling on and rubbing away paint and instinctively following the colour as the painting develops. Originally perhaps considered a counter-culture artist much like his Punk sidekicks, in recent times his modernist action paintings have been coveted by the corporate business world. You can now find Diggle's work in prominent collections such as Chase Manhattan Bank and the Rockefeller Centre New York, as well as in many boardrooms around the world.
This striking stone Dionysus, carved from Purbeck limestone, was created by Emily Young; described by The Financial Times as "Britain's greatest contemporary stone sculptor". With an endless curiosity in the unique geological characteristics of stone, and raiding quarry yards for discarded materials she could work with, Young's heads marry the fraility of human life with the unyielding magnificence of stone. Dionysus is often said to be the God of Wine & Chaos - we don't enjoy chaos in the Lobby Bar, but we do enjoy the wine.
You'll find Nick Malone in a number of corridors and rooms at One Aldwych. Cartoons I, II and III were part of an exhibition originally mounted by the British Council in Greece, which brought the artist to the attention of our hotel. Malone was originally a writer and academic before pursuing life as an artist full-time, which was a good career move: he has exhibited both in London and internationally, and received an Arts Council England Award to support him in the development of his creative work.
You'll find Nick Malone in a number of corridors and rooms at One Aldwych. Cartoons I, II and III were part of an exhibition originally mounted by the British Council in Greece, which brought the artist to the attention of our hotel. Malone was originally a writer and academic before pursuing life as an artist full-time, which was a good career move: he has exhibited both in London and internationally, and received an Arts Council England Award to support him in the development of his creative work.
Girls Head, known affectionately in the hotel as Olga, was chosen for One Aldwych to connect to the architectural and artistic forms of the period when the building was originally built. Wallace often focuses on human figures to explore broad themes of transformation, journeys and the passage of time. The materials he uses are suggestive of different states - in this instance a solidity and permanence represented by the traditional bronze cast.
Spencer, our first Justine Smith canine, has stood by Reception for years welcome guests right at the front door, as every good dog does. The sculpture embodies Smith's preoccupation with paper, and how she explores its status in both money and communication. Get up close to Spencer, and you can enjoy a quick read of some classic Beano cartoon strips.
You'll find Nick Malone in a number of corridors and rooms at One Aldwych. Cartoons I, II and III were part of an exhibition originally mounted by the British Council in Greece, which brought the artist to the attention of our hotel. Malone was originally a writer and academic before pursuing life as an artist full-time, which was a good career move: he has exhibited both in London and internationally, and received an Arts Council England Award to support him in the development of his creative work.
With its close proximity to the River Thames, one might say One Aldwych has a natural connection to Wallace's seafaring themes and metaphors. The Boatman was chosen for the lobby thanks to its sculptural presence: it provides impact and a talking point without dominating the space. Design-wise, our hotel has long charted its own course, and this sculpture is a symbol of strength and independence in life's choppy waters.
Peter Unsworth was just 26 when he had his first one-man show at the Piccadilly Gallery in 1963. At the time, his preferred figurative painting was being overshadowed by the American Expressionists, with people flocking to see their huge signature canvases. Despite this, Unsworth's work, featuring in his words 'a more conventional narrative' was part of a sell-out show in 1967. His art has remained resolutely popular, and between 1965 and 1990 he had ten solo shows at the Piccadilly Gallery and exhibited in Bologna, Milan, Brussels, Hamburg, Ibiza, Baden Baden and Dublin, as well as taking part in The British Council Touring Exhibition in 1989.
The source of Brian De La Cour's inspiration is landscape in many forms. His early work, self-defined as 'tortuous' in nature, led him to explore the juxtapositions of natural rock formations with urban scenes of devastation. His later art reflects the calmer harmony of land and sky, though still through a lens of abstract realism. De La Cour's paintings are often constructed through layering: revealing, cancelling and superimposing images, free-hand drawing and lively colour, representing both stability and flux, in art and in life.
As part of the hotel's refurbishment in 2019, our original canine sculpture Spencer was joined by puppy friend Lizzie. With Lizzie, artist Justine Smith subverts the concept of money - its worth and its status - with the fact that on a physical level a banknote is just a piece of paper.
Where art and music collide. As an assistant to artist and musician Brian Eno, Mark Maxwell worked on set and lighting designs for live musical performances, integrating sculptural forms and light projections. A series of mulit-media projects followed, with Maxwell creating concepts for pop videos, contemporary dance, exhibitions and live events. It's as a painter, however, that we celebrate him here. This visually-textural artwork is directly influenced by former video experiments: evoking abstract landscapes, and exploring colour and patina as a state of fluidity and flux.
The work of abstract sculptor, painter and printmaker Keith Milow is often characterised with big adjectives: monumental, procedural, enigmatic and poetic. During the 1970s, Milow was considered part of the British artistic avant-garde, along with artists such as Richard London, Gilbert and George, Michael Craig-Martin and Barry Flanagan. Milow has been credited with helping to shape and define a critical period of new and experimental art practices, and has been nominated for prestigious awards in every decade of his work.