Pallant House Gallery Library and Archive

The Hussey Bequest, given to Chichester District by Dean Walter Hussey in 1977, and led to the foundation of Pallant House Gallery.  Along with art works from Hussey’s collection, we received over 400 books from his personal library, including catalogues of artists he knew and collected such as Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland, as well as books on Hussey’s other interests ballet, music and theatre.

The Charles Kearley Bequest came to the Gallery in 1989, and included books Kearley used to develop his knowledge and appreciation of modern European and British art and artists.  Some of these books include his notes and annotations.  Various papers and architectural plans relating to Hat Hill Copse, Goodwood, the house Kearley built to show-case art collection, are held in the Archives.

Containing notes, correspondence, photographs, printed ephemera, catalogues, and press cuttings relating to the significant collection of modern British artists of Colin St John Wilson and MJ Long which came to Pallant House Gallery in 2006.  Wilson and Long developed key friendships with the artists they collected, including Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Michael Andrews, Prunella Clough, and R B Kitaj.

George Dannatt, artist, photographer and music critic, with his wife Ann , amassed a considerable collection of contemporary art, many from artists who were also friends such as Terry Frost, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, and Patrick Heron. In 2011, the Dannatt gift comprises 114 works, along with 1500 items from their extensive art library including books, catalogues and archive materials.

Clare Neilson was a close friend of Paul Nash, and she gathered a personal archive of works, correspondence, and books by and from Nash who was a regular visitor to her home, ‘Madams’, in Gloucestershire.  The archive holds many photographs capturing expeditions Neilson and Nash went on together.  The archive was a gift to the Gallery from Neilson’s godson Jeremy Greenwood in 2013, and who along with Alan Swerdlow, continue to add to the Collection.

In 2020 Mark Golder and Brian Thompson generously gifted a collection of books and printed ephemera produced and printed by the Old Stile Press. Set up in 1979 by Nicolas and Frances McDowell, they worked closely with the artists they commissioned to illustrate a wide selection of texts.  Our collection includes Peter Shaffer’s play ‘Equus’ illustrated by Clive Hicks-Jenkins and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Ballard of Reading Gaol’ with wood engravings by Garrick Palmer.

The Feibusch archive comprises photographs, notes, sketchbooks, correspondence and ephemera from the studio of Hans Feibusch which came to the Gallery in 1997 alongside a vast collection of his drawings, studies, lithographs, paintings and sculptures.  Born in Germany Feibusch escaped Nazi persecution to England in the 1930s where he established himself as an artist specialising in mural painting, particularly church and civic commissions.

In 2020, we received over 300 files and around 100 books relating to artists associated with the Cass Sculpture Park, Goodwood, West Sussex.  The files contain correspondence, photographs, press releases and cuttings, and other ephemera relating to sculptors who worked with Cass Sculptor Park and provide interesting research material on contemporary sculptors working in Britain.