‘The Fylde Collection’ is an exhibition of some of the finest works from the Fylde Borough Council Collection.
Fylde is a borough of Lancashire, the border of which runs alongside Blackpool, and includes the towns of Lytham, St. Annes on Sea and Kirkham as well as numerous smaller rural villages.
The collection was first formed in 1925 with a donation of one work from John Booth, of the northern-based supermarket chain Booths, and now exceeds over two hundred artworks, primarily 19th century painting. The collection’s most supportive patron was Alderman James Herbert Dawson who presented over 50 works and whose unrealised ambition was the construction of a gallery in Lytham St. Annes in which the collection could be displayed.
‘The Fylde Collection’ at the Grundy includes thirty of the finest works from the collection, many never before exhibited publicly. The exhibition includes the first three works to enter the collection by Richard Ansdell (1815 -1885) whose heroic paintings followed the manner of Sir Edwin Landseer – highland landscapes depicting sporting scenes and animal based narratives using a highly skilled painting technique. The artist lived for a time on the Fylde Coast and it is he after whom the local area of Ansdell is named. Also included is Charles Burton Barber’s (1845 – 1894) painting In Disgrace (1886) which is an exquisite example of the English painter’s work. Considered as one of England’s finest animal painters, Barber’s sentimental work was enjoyed by Queen Victoria who commissioned the artist to produce pictorial records of many favoured Royal pets.
Other artists included in the exhibition are Maud Earl, Andrea Landini and Eugene de Blass.
This exhibition is organised in collaboration with Fylde Borough Council.