The Arts Club

Last updated

The Arts Club
Formation1863
Type Arts, Literature & Science
Headquarters London, England
Location
President
Sir Peter Blake
Website www.theartsclub.co.uk

The Arts Club is a London private members' club in Dover Street, Mayfair, founded in 1863 by Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and Lord Leighton among others. It remains a meeting place for men and women involved in the creative arts either professionally or as patrons.

Contents

History

In the nineteenth century members and guests included Dickens, Millais, Whistler, Kipling, Monet, Rodin, Degas and Turgenev.[ citation needed ] As early as 1891, James Whistler, one of the Arts Club's leading members, broke away to found the rival Chelsea Arts Club.

Clubhouse

c. 1920 photograph of the club The Arts Club and its members (1920) (14792997463).jpg
c. 1920 photograph of the club

The original club premises were at 17 Hanover Square, Mayfair. After thirty years there, the club moved nearby to its current accommodation, an 18th-century townhouse at 40 Dover Street, Mayfair, just north of the Ritz Hotel on Piccadilly, formerly the London home of the family of the Baron Stanley of Alderley. It was badly bombed in the Blitz and extensively rebuilt. In December 2020 the club opened its first international outpost in Dubai in the ICD Brookfield Place building, Ajaz Sheikh was named CEO of the Dubai Arts Club. [1]

Membership

Current membership includes a number of Royal Academicians, architects, musicians, actors and writers. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was the Patron and Sir Peter Blake is the President of the Club. The Chairman of the Club is Arjun C Waney OBE. Current members include Grayson Perry, the photographer Tom Hunter, the actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Kim Cattrall and also Ronnie Wood. Well known "non-artist" members include Richard Attenborough, Matthew Parris, and Henry Blofeld.

As of 2012, the Club has no reciprocal clubs in the UK. However, a number of clubs outside the UK of similar character have reciprocal arrangements, including the Cercle de l'Union interalliée in Paris, The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, the St. Botolph and Algonquin Clubs in Boston, the Cosmos Club in Washington DC, the Arts Club of Chicago and the Arts Club of Washington DC, and the Century Association, The Coffee House, National Arts Club and Salmagundi Club in New York.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Society of Arts</span> British organisation

The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayfair</span> Area of central London, England

Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelsea Arts Club</span>

Chelsea Arts Club is a private members' club at 143 Old Church Street in Chelsea, London with a membership of over 3,800, including artists, sculptors, architects, writers, designers, actors, musicians, photographers, and filmmakers. The club was established on 21 March 1891, as a rival to the older Arts Club in Mayfair, on the instigation of the artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, who had been a member of the older club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White's</span> Gentlemens club in the City of Westminster, London, England

White's is a gentlemen's club in St James's, London. Founded in 1693 as a hot chocolate shop in Mayfair, it is the oldest gentleman's club in London. It moved to its current premises on St James's Street in 1778.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmos Club</span> Private social club in Washington, D.C.

The Cosmos Club is a 501(c)(7) private social club in Washington, D.C., that was founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878 as a gentlemen's club for those interested in science. Among its stated goals is, "The advancement of its members in science, literature, and art and also their mutual improvement by social intercourse."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dover Street</span> Street in London, England

Dover Street is a street in Mayfair, London. The street is notable for its Georgian architecture as well as the location of historic London clubs and hotels, which have been frequented by world leaders and historic figures in the arts. It also hosts a number of contemporary art galleries. An equestrian sculpture by Elisabeth Frink stands on the junction of Dover Street and Piccadilly, opposite the Ritz Hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albemarle Street</span> Street in Mayfair in central London

Albemarle Street is a street in Mayfair in central London, off Piccadilly. It has historic associations with Lord Byron, whose publisher John Murray was based here, and Oscar Wilde, a member of the Albemarle Club, where an insult he received led to his suing for libel and to his eventual imprisonment. It is also known for its art galleries and the Brown's Hotel is located at 33 Albemarle Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crown London Aspinalls</span> British casino

Crown London Aspinalls is a private gambling club, established by John Aspinall in London since the 1960s. Crown London Aspinalls is currently at 27–28 Curzon Street, Mayfair, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown's Hotel</span> Building in Mayfair, London

Brown's Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Mayfair, London, established in 1837 and owned by Rocco Forte Hotels since 3 July 2003. It is considered one of London's oldest existing hotels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dover Street Market</span> Multi-brand retailer

Dover Street Market is a unique multi-brand retailer that combines the elements of a department store and an exhibition space. Originally located on Dover Street, in Mayfair, London. and has since expanded to multiple locations around the world, including New York City, Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing, and Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers</span>

The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, was a society of etchers established in London in 1880 and given a Royal Charter in 1888. Engraving was included within the scope of the Society from 1897, wood-engraving from 1920, coloured original prints from 1957, lithography from 1987 and all forms of creative forward-thinking original printmaking from 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St James's Club</span>

The St James's Club was a London gentlemen's club which operated between 1857 and 1978. It was founded by two leading diplomats and its members continued to be largely diplomats and authors. It was first established in Charles Street and moved to 106 Piccadilly by 1868. In the final quarter of the twentieth century many gentlemen’s clubs of London suffered from declining membership, and in 1978 the St James's Club merged with Brooks's Club and vacated its premises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gresham Club</span>

The Gresham Club was founded in 1843 and dissolved in 1991. It was named after Thomas Gresham. The Gresham Club's last site was located on Abchurch Lane off King William Street before it was sold to the London Capital Club, which in turn ceased operation in 2018. Following the closure of the London Capital Club, a number of the members relaunched The Gresham Club in 2018 and recreated the raison d'être of its original predecessor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepherd Market</span>

Shepherd Market is a small business-lined precinct featuring two small squares, one with a northern recess in Mayfair, in the West End of London, built up between 1735 and 1746 by Edward Shepherd on the open ground then used for the annual fair from which Mayfair derives; it does so with the east end of Shepherd Street which is also broad-pavemented. It is between Piccadilly and Curzon Street and has a village-like atmosphere. It was associated with upmarket prostitutes from its building up until at least the 1980s. In the 1920s, it hosted leading writers and artists such as Anthony Powell, Michael Arlen and Sophie Fedorovitch. Jeffrey Archer met Monica Coghlan here in the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bath Club</span> Former London gentlemens club

The Bath Club was a sports-themed London gentlemen's club in the 20th century. It was established in 1894 at 34 Dover Street. Its swimming pool was a noted feature, and it is thought that the swimming pool of the fictional Drones Club was based on this. It is also where Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth II learned to swim. It was one of the few gentleman's clubs that admitted women. Sir Henry "Chips" Channon was a member. Mark Twain stayed here when he visited London. Guglielmo Marconi stayed here as well when he visited London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bachelors' Club</span>

The Bachelors' Club was a London gentlemen's club in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, now defunct. As the name suggests, membership was only open to bachelors. The club had a reputation for having a markedly younger membership than many other Edwardian clubs, and given the high-spirited antics which sometimes ensued on the premises, it was cited as an influence on the fictional Drones Club, in some of P.G. Wodehouse's earlier stories. A persistent rumour circulated throughout its existence, and reached wider circulation in the 1920s, that some of its membership were gay - then both illegal and publicly frowned upon – and it soon became superseded by Buck's as the young man's club in London, being forced to close shortly thereafter.

The Junior Naval and Military Club was a short-lived London gentlemen's club, which existed between 1870 and 1879.

Mark's Club is a private members' club and restaurant in Mayfair, London, UK. Established in 1972, it has hosted many fashion events and been patronised by members of the British establishment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Audley Street</span> Shopping street in Mayfair, London

South Audley Street is a major shopping street in Mayfair, London. It runs north to south from the southwest corner of Grosvenor Square to Curzon Street.

The Clarence Club, formerly known as the Literary Union Club, was a gentlemen's club founded in 1826, as a socially exclusive dining society that met in Conduit Street, Mayfair, by the poet Thomas Campbell, with the objective of the facilitation of social connections between those with an interest in the arts, philosophy, finance, trade, business, and science. Most of its members were English, but, originally, it included a significant core of members of Scottish descent. It is notable for its prohibition, then radical, of the extension of membership to any member of the press.

References

  1. "A LOOK INSIDE DUBAI'S ULTRA-EXCLUSIVE THE ARTS CLUB DUBAI". Conde Nast Traveller. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.

Further reading

51°30′29.49″N0°8′32.02″W / 51.5081917°N 0.1422278°W / 51.5081917; -0.1422278