HISTORY

The Bath Society of Artists was founded in 1904 with twenty six foundation members and it has grown over the years to a membership of around 120 diverse, talented artists. There has been an Annual (open) Exhibition every year except for one during the Second World War, mainly in the city's Victoria Art Gallery.
Walter Sickert at the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath in 1939
 
Adrian Heath with student 1957 ... Ralph Brown 1961
 
WALTER SICKERT IN BATH
 
Walter Sickert lived in Bath during the First World War and later settled in Bathampton where he spent the last four years of his life.

He is considered an eccentric figure of the transition from Impressionism to modernism, and as an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century.

One of Sickert's closest friends and supporters was newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook, who accumulated the largest single collection of Sickert paintings in the world. This collection, with a private correspondence between Sickert and Beaverbook, is in the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Sickert's sister was Helena Swanwick, a feminist and pacifist active in the women's suffrage movement.
Mr Steer and Mr Sickert (detail)

PRESIDENT David Inshaw RWA 2002 -
VICE PRESIDENT Jean Cecil
CHAIRMAN Guy Thomas
OFFICERS:
Hon Exhibition Org Sec - Peter Davies
Hon Treasurer - Dorothea Whitley-Smyth AMNS
Club Secretary - Jo Freeman
Secretary - Gillian Corden

PAST PRESIDENTS
Edwin A Abbey RA 1904-1910
P Wilson Steer NEAC 1911-1920
Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton RA PRWS 1921-1932
H Davis Richter RI ROI RBC RWS 1933-1944
Lord Methuen RA PRWA 1945-1960
Gilbert Spencer RA NEAC Hon 1961-1975
Adrian Heath RWS ARCA 1976-1992
Ralph Brown 1993-2002

PAST VICE PRESIDENTS
Mary Fedden RA PPRWA
Patrick Heron CBE
George Kersley OBE MD FRCP
Dane Maw
William Scott CBE RA
Lord Strathcona & Mount Royal
Diana Sylvester RWA

PAST CHAIRMEN
Moybray A Green 1904-1945
Lord Methuen RA PRWA 1945-1951 (President at the same time)
Dane Maw 1952-1977
Gerald Scott RWA 1977-1978
Harry Walker RWA 1978-1990
Gerald Cains RWA 1991-1998
Bob Rudd RI 1998-2002
Ian Black 2002-2009
Bob Rudd RI 2010-2011

PAST SECRETARIES
Charles Boodle, Charles N Knight, Miss V Eustace, Leonara Ison, FR Huggins, Cynthia Tew, Alison Birch, Philippa Sleigh, Genevieve Best, Brenda Jones, Gwen Johns, Malcolm Ashman, Gwyneth Browne, Diana Sylvester, Janet Freeman, Guy Thomas.

HON EXHIBITION SECRETARIES
Janet Freeman, Jim Connolly, Guy Thomas

In the past years, the following have been Openers at the Annual Exhibition:

Donald Milner OBE MA ARCA RWA, Michael Finn, James Tower, John Nash RA, John Skeaping RA, Tristram Hillier RA, Carel Weight RA, Lord Strathcona, Vivian Ogilvie, William Scott RA, James Fitton RA, John Aldridge RA, Gilbert Spencer RA, Richard Eurich RA, Ernest Pascoe FRSBS DFA (Lond) RWA, Michael Finn ARCA FRSA, Arnold Haskell CBE, Adrian Heath RWS ARCA, Arnold Wilson MA RMA, Gerry Hicks RWA, Ian Black RWA, Michael Canney NDD, John Lancaster, Warren Storey RWA, Alfred Stockham ARCA, Denys Delhanty RWA, J M Guillebaud SWA, John Eaves, David Inshaw RWA, Alan Carter, Gerald Cains RWA, Dr Hassel Smith, Peter Folkes VPRI RWArts, Derek Balmer, Mary Pasmore, Roger Jones, John Blockley RWA, John Huggins RWA, David Atkinson, Ian Black RWA, David Inshaw RWA.

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