‘I feel we are dealing with dreams and are about to house them in a solid Midlands setting for posterity. How delightful’ - Kathleen Garman, 1973

On Wednesday 9 July this year the gallery will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Garman Ryan Collection opening in the old Museum and Art Gallery in Lichfield Street, Walsall with an exhibition and events which aim to reveal and unpick the history and stories behind the formation of the collection and the journey from its creation to its current home in The New Art Gallery Walsall.

There will be a special Celebration Opening Party on Wednesday 9 July, 6-8pm with a preview of the ‘Dealing with Dreams’ exhibition, celebrating Kathleen’s generosity of spirit and imaginative breadth which lead to this fantastic gift to Walsall. We would like to invite everyone to come and celebrate the anniversary with us.

The exhibition will be opened by Kathleen’s granddaughter, Annie Freud, the daughter of Lucian Freud. Annie will be reading some of her poetry which has been inspired by some of her grandmothers artworks in the collection. These will be included in her third poetry compilation which will be published next year.

The Garman Ryan Collection

The Garman Ryan Collection was formed by two remarkable women, Kathleen Garman and Sally Ryan, and generously given to the Borough of Walsall with it’s inaugural opening on July 9th 1974.

Kathleen Garman was born in nearby Wednesbury and met the great twentieth-century sculptor Jacob Epstein in 1921. She had three children by him and married him in 1955, after the death of his first wife. After Epstein’s own death in 1959, Kathleen created an art collection with her friend Sally Ryan, granddaughter of American tycoon Thomas Fortune Ryan and a talented sculptor in her own right. Together Kathleen and Sally formed a collection of works by some of the greatest European artists such as Dürer, Rembrandt, Constable, Van Gogh and Monet - as well as artworks by unknown artists. Following Sally Ryan’s death in 1968 Kathleen started to look around for a home for what she had started to call ‘The Garman Ryan Collection’ and came back to her roots in the Black Country, finally settling on Walsall as the recipient of this fabulous gift.

The collection also serves as a memorial to the Epstein’s extraordinary circle of family and friends, including Augustus John, Matthew Smith, Modigliani and Gaudier-Brzeska. His complex family life is also revealed both through the Epstein Archive of letters and photographs held at The New Art Gallery Walsall but also through the many personal artworks in the collection, including Lucian Freud’s portrait of his wife ‘Kitty’ who was Epstein and Kathleen’s daughter.

Above all, the collection provides important insights into Jacob Epstein’s long and often controversial career. The thematic arrangement on which Kathleen insisted provides the opportunity to make unexpected links and comparisons across different centuries and cultures. Intimate, wide-ranging and adventurous, this is a collection that offers something for everyone to enjoy.

The Garman Ryan Collection acts as a spring board for complementary displays, acquisitions and educational programmes and is the foundation of all that we do at The New Art Gallery Walsall’ - Stephen Snoddy, Director of The New Art Gallery Walsall, 2014

The New Art Gallery

Gallery Square
Walsall WS2 8LG United Kingdom
Ph. +44 (0)19 22654400
info@thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk
www.thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk

Opening hours

Tuesday - Saturday from 10am to 5pm
Sunday from 12pm to 4pm

Related images

1 & 3 The Garman Ryan Collection Galleries, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Photo: Craig Holmes
2 The Garman Ryan Collection (old venue), 1974, Walsall Museum and Art Gallery, Lichfield Street, Walsall
4 Jacob Epstein (1880-1959), First Portrait of Kathleen, 1921, Bronze
5 Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Sorrow, 1882, The Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall
6 Jacob Epstein (1880-1959), Sally Ryan, 1937, Bronze