Austin Desmond Fine Art

Founded in 1979, by William Desmond and John Austin Austin/Desmond Fine Art initially operated from stables near Ascot, opening their first gallery in 1986 at nearby Sunninghill. Austin/Desmond relocated to its current location in Bloomsbury in 1988. The gallery’s principal focus has been in Modern British art, promoting and exhibiting aspects of a genre that had become neglected and unfashionable. Their beautifully produced exhibition catalogues particularly the various 'Aspects of Modern British & Irish Art' have become collectable in their own right.

Austin/Desmond has specialised in work associated with the St. Ives School of artists, including Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Roger Hilton, Paul Feiler, Margaret Mellis, Terry Frost and Peter Lanyon. Selected artists who have been the subject of solo exhibitions include Prunella Clough, Francis Davison, Wyndham Lewis, David Jones, Keith Vaughan and Alfred Wallis. Works by Frank Auerbach, David Bomberg, Lucian Freud, Naum Gabo, Anthony Hill, Ivon Hitchens, Leon Kossoff, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Bridget Riley, Victor Pasmore and Graham Sutherland have also been exhibited at both the Bloomsbury gallery and at major art fairs in Europe and America. The gallery also represents leading contemporary British artists such as Stephen Buckley, Timothy Hyman and Julian Perry.