Although our attention is usually focused on Brighton & Hove, it gives great pleasure to draw attention to a superb achievement further along the coast at Chichester.
The new works at Pallant House Gallery are outstanding, and a review of the Gallery by Peter Rose, first published in The Regency Review (download pdf here) follows:

Click here for a brief slideshow of Pallant House Gallery

The re-development and recent re-opening of Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, is a miracle of dedication and generosity, both public and private. It now stands as an object lesson to various other cultural centres in Sussex which are undergoing, or have undergone a similar process, notably Eastbourne, Lewes and indeed Brighton itself, in what can be achieved by vision and determination.

Pallant House itself is the finest eighteenth century house in Chichester to survive intact. However, over the past seven years a completely new series of galleries has been grafted onto it, largely devoted to displaying twentieth century British art. The original Queen Anne townhouse, resplendent with flamboyant stone ostriches flanking the entrance, was built in 1711 by the newly wedded twenty seven year old Henry Peckham. He had married, to great pecuniary advantage, a wealthy widow in her early forties. The union was not a success and, after five years, was dissolved acrimoniously over the best part of a further dozen years. It appears that the building of the house, which cost almost double its estimate, was a major cause of the rupture. The house remained in private hands until the mid- twentieth century when it was acquired by Chichester District Council, and used as offices. In the past quarter century however major benefactions made it possible for the house to be opened to the public as a semi-furnished gallery of modern art.

Two outstanding collections were largely responsible for the conversion of the house into a gallery. The first of these was by Walter Hussey, Dean of Chichester Cathedral from 1955-1977. He combined his religious duties with a passion for both commissioning and collecting, mainly British, twentieth century painting and sculpture. The second was by Charles Kearley, a property developer, who formed a collection remarkably complementary to Dean Hussey’s, as his range of interest additionally included continental artists.

In 1997 the Gallery trustees acquired the building next door to Pallant House. At the same time Professor Sir Colin St. John Wilson declared the intention to donate his major collection of modern British art to the Gallery. Fortuitously an architectural partnership, which included his wife M.J.Long and her colleague Rolfe Kentish, secured the commission to design the additional galleries occupying the newly acquired adjoining site.

Now, almost a decade later, in the spring of 2006 the new galleries were completed and opened to the public alongside those within the Queen Anne townhouse. The existing galleries, which have retained their own distinctive character, also suffered a lengthy closure due to the extensive new building works.

It is customary these days to await with some apprehension the addition of new buildings to one already of unquestioned architectural merit. Prince Charles’s description of a proposed new wing to the National Gallery as a “carbuncle” is still widely quoted. The Director of Pallant House, Stefan van Raay, on his appointment, was uncompromising, stating to the trustees that he would not “take the job unless the new building was contemporary in design”. Colin St. John Wilson, architect of the British Library, is widely admired for his sensitivity to contextual challenges, while retaining a modern approach.

The new buildings are elegant and appropriate using sympathetic materials such as red brick and plaster rendering, but avoiding period frills. Top-lit picture galleries by their nature do not require façades pierced by windows: for this reason there are large areas of unadorned brick, separated from the street frontage of the Queen Anne mansion by the new entrance and staircase. The space for display has been more than doubled with new facilities including a restaurant, spreading out into a garden courtyard, a print room, research library, lecture room and a spacious gallery shop.

The new galleries vary in size with a central “Galleria” displaying some of the most spectacular pieces. Leading off from this central space there is a sequence of smaller galleries that display themed groupings to suit the particular strengths of the Collection. Although essentially modern white-walled spaces, the style is restrained. There are no “look at me” challenges as so often happens in contemporary design. On the day of my visit, which was bright and sunny, the pictures were showing to great advantage, with subtle control of light to suit the various paint media.

Invitations and publicity about visiting the new galleries declare that they are “not for boring old arts” : presumably the double meaning is intended. I find this mildly offensive but, more importantly, inaccurate. The roots of the collection are set in the first half of the twentieth century, and its great strength is historical not contemporary, although there is a spectacular “installation” by Susie MacMurray in the eighteenth century staircase hall. At the core is still the connoisseurship of Dean Hussey and Charles Kearley now dramatically strengthened by the Colin Wilson collection. In addition there are many exhibits on loan from private collectors. This is well demonstrated in the opening show which fills the main galleries “Modern British Art: The First 100 Years”, ending on 24 September 2006.

This is probably the best opportunity of appraising British Art of the twentieth century, and gaining a balanced overview of it, anywhere in the country, including London itself. I strongly recommend a visit. The excellent direct train from Brighton or Hove stations takes a little over half an hour and delivers you to within a ten minute walk to Pallant House. There is also the fine gallery restaurant to revive flagging spirits.

Architects: Long and Kentish

JUNE 2007
The Pallant House Gallery has been awarded The Gulbenkian Prize 2007