James Hart Dyke London: Cityscapes and Interiors

We held our first exhibition of James Hart Dyke’s paintings in December 2002, and it is fair to say that the happy and productive relationship between artist and gallery which has burst forth in the intervening years exceeded all our expectations.

In 2002 I wrote how, “[a]s a gallery specialising in Old Masters and other traditional European painters, an exhibition of a living artist is for us a rare event; yet it is precisely because his work is in keeping with our tastes that we are proud to present this collection of his landscapes.” Even though hundreds of his paintings have passed through our hands since then, both statements still ring true today, and it is therefore with much anticipation that we embark on an exhibition of paintings all to do with London.

Considerations of space here preclude the comprehensive account of his career which James merits, but devotees will anyway be familiar with his distinguished exhibition history and the breadth of his subject matter. James remains a dedicated painter of landscapes, and it bears repeating how he began painting at the age of eight after seeing a Constable oil study. Within six years of becoming a full-time artist in 1992, James was one of only four living artists to have his work included in the Sotheby’s survey, The Artist and the Country House from the 15th Century to the present Day. In the last decade whole, stand-alone exhibitions have arisen from his gruelling treks in the Himalayas and the Atlas mountains, from several royal tours as official artist to HRH The Prince of Wales and, most conspicuously, in 2011 from the many months he had spent observing life inside the Secret Intelligence Service. James’s oils and watercolours captured life inside MI6 in a way no photographer ever could have, and in the diversity of his technique and subject matter, both real and abstract, he attracted international recognition. This in turn led to work for Aston Martin Ltd., and for the producers of the James Bond films, who memorably included a Hart Dyke painting in the closing scenes of Skyfall. A recent commission which I am personally gratified to be associated with is the exclusive series of themed paintings which James painted for the new clubhouse at the Queen’s Club in west London in 2016, and which continues to draw praise from members and visitors alike.

Two years ago the Hart Dyke family moved out of London, although his studio remains here. The aspect of the city now has a different meaning to him, as a place of work alone, and it seemed timely to focus on it for an exhibition, all the more so that fatherhood now somewhat restricts his movements! Before he took to painting James studied architecture at the Royal College of Art, and ever since has retained an abiding interest in buildings and urban planning. Paintings of country houses and ‘visuals’ for upmarket housing developments continue to be cornerstones of his livelihood. How fitting, therefore, that with these latest paintings James returns to the very foundation of his painting and the treatment of buildings.

There is within this body of new work an emphasis on members’ clubs, some private and exclusive in the worst sense of the word and others less so, an emphasis which is entirely of the artist’s own conjuring, and yet one which is endorsed by us as a refreshing and original way of seeing London, and what goes on behind closed walls. The mild air of secrecy and reticence to be found on occasion in some establishments was familiar to James, as we have seen, and heightened his interest in capturing what are often magnificent interiors, and their denizens. The topic of the ‘private club’ is indeed a newsworthy one, as stories abound at present of new such establishments opening across the city, and old ones being given new leases of life, so it is hoped that some of this energy has been captured in James Hart Dyke’s paintings. Even if one has no interest in London, any exhibition of his work is worth seeing, just as in our last Hart Dyke exhibition in 2015, Whymper’s Alps, many of the pictures were bought by people who had never before seen the glaciers on Mont Blanc. Whatever your interest in London (or not!), we hope you will enjoy exploring some of its more intriguing locations with James Hart Dyke.