History
Marlborough Fine Art was founded in 1946 by Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer who emigrated from Vienna to England. In Vienna, Lloyd's family had been art and antique dealers for three generations and Fischer had dealt in antiquarian books. In 1948 they were joined by a third partner, David Somerset, now the Duke of Beaufort, and chairman of Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd to this day.
By 1952 Marlborough was already selling masterpieces of late 19th century including bronzes by Edgar Degas and paintings by Mary Cassatt, Paul Signac, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Auguste Renoir amongst others and drawings by Constantine Guys and Vincent van Gogh and organizing exhibitions which set new standards for commercial galleries. These were recognized as Museum quality exhibitions and the gallery became a focus for international collectors, museum directors and connoisseurs as well as history of art students.
In the late 1950's and early 1960's Marlborough was the first gallery to introduce a London audience to exhibitions of German and Austrian painting of the 20th Century. Exhibitions such as: Art in Revolt, Germany 1905-1925; Kandinsky, the Road to Abstraction and The Painters of the Bauhaus, Egon Schiele and a major Kurt Schwitters show were truly ground breaking exhibitions. At about the same time, the gallery started to show major contemporary artists and to promote British artists on an international scale in conjunction with the British Council. Marlborough rapidly signed up the major artists of the time including Frank Auerbach,
Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Victor Pasmore, Graham Sutherland and many others.
In the 1960's Frank Lloyd moved to New York and in 1972 his son Gilbert Lloyd, who joined the gallery ten years earlier, assumed control of Marlborough Fine Art in London. The gallery continued the tradition of curating shows of Modern Masters as well as continuing the policy of working with their contemporary artists. They organized major exhibitions of work by Jacques Lipchitz and René Magritte in 1973; Max Beckmann and Max Bill in 1974;
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Henri Matisse in 1978 and the innovative Schwitters in Exile show of 1981 which helped reshape opinion of the late work of this artist. From 1980 onwards the Marlborough stable of international artists continued to expand and be exhibited worldwide.
More than 60 years on, the gallery continues to be associated with some of the greatest living artists of today. Frank Auerbach and Paula Rego for example, are seen to be among the most important contemporary artists at the peak of their careers. In a shrinking world, Marlborough continues to promote and organize exhibitions; participates in Art Fairs round the world and works with Museums in organizing exhibitions of their artists. Marlborough is expanding its activities into parts of the world like China, Brazil, and Mexico - the artistic and economic power houses of our time.
