Sandon Studios Society

Founded in 1905 by a group of Liverpool artists, the Society members had largely been former students at the University’s School of Architecture and Applied Art until it established a more traditional syllabus in that year. This department had earlier thrived under the tuition of artists such as Robert Anning Bell and Augustus John who imbued their charges with a futuristic view of the greater art world beyond the close confines of Liverpool. The first exhibition in May 1908 was staged at the Bluecoat Gallery by the Sandon, occupied three rooms and comprised 125 works by Sandon members, honorary members and two invited artists, Charles Condor and Claude Monet. This was probably the first time a Monet painting was exhibited outside London. The cost of admission was one shilling, (5p).

The Society was in no way provincial as in 1911 it displayed a selection of works from Roger Fry's first Post-Impressionist exhibition, and in 1931 it showed sculptor Jacob Epstein's controversial 'Genesis' and attracted nearly 50,000 visitors in a month.

The originating members of the Society were consolidated in their ambition to change the mindset of art in the City. In order to achieve their goal, they needed to establish an alternative art school in the city. This would promote creativity and innovation in art rather than the limited teaching that existed in state-run art schools. Moreover, they wanted Liverpool to establish itself as a centre for art independence from London. Founding and influential members included James Hamilton Hay, Herbert McNair, Mary McCrossan, Tyson Smith, Fanny Dove Lister, Gerard Chowne and William Penn.

The Bluecoat temporarily closed after the destruction of an adjoining block of buildings on 22 December 1940, and a planned War Artists' show was closed. From minutes of Liverpool Corporation's Museums and Libraries Committee meetings in the Liverpool Record Office, there was a plan to reopen with an exhibition of marine paintings from the Walker's Permanent Collection in March. An exhibition organised by the Artists' International Association was booked for February, then an Autumn Permanent Collection show in April or May.

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