Currently on display in the Library and Archives Reading Room are works by Richard Hamilton (1922 – 2011). Also on display, are books telling the story of the figure hand cuffed to Mick Jagger in the police van – Robert Fraser (1937-1986).  Fraser a ‘… taste-maker, hedonist, lousy businessman …’ (quote from Harriet Vyner’s book Fig 2) was an art dealer in the swinging sixties, with a gallery on Duke Street in London that was the centre for new, outrageous, avant-garde, exciting art and artists.

Fig. 1 The works are from left to right: Swingeing London 67, 1967-8. Etching and aquatint with collage on paper, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (Accepted in lieu of Inheritance Tax by HM Government from the estate of MJ Long / Wilson and allocated to Pallant House Gallery, 2021); Swingeing London ’67. 1968. Medium support: Relief, screenprint on oil on photograph on hardboard, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester Wilson Gift through The Art Fund (2006); Swingeing London 67 poster. 1968, Photo-offset lithograph on paper, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (Wilson Gift through Art Fund 2006).

During the actual drugs bust at Redlands no one was arrested, but later Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Robert Fraser were charged with drug offences, and tried at Chichester Crown Court. All three were found guilty and remanded in Lewes Prison to await sentencing on 27 July 1967.  Jagger and Richards were sentenced to 1 year and a fine.  Jagger spent a night in Brixton Prison and Richards in Wormwood Scrubs before being released on bail pending appeal. However, Robert Fraser, a drug addict and heroin user, had pleaded guilty to charges of possession of heroin, and was sentenced to six months’ hard labour, spent in Wormwood Scrubs. He did not appeal the sentence.

Fig 2: Harriet Vyner’s book Groovy Bob: the Life and Times of Robert Fraser. Faber and Faber, London.1999. Pallant House Gallery Library and Archives.

The case became a press sensation and public scandal. There was much sympathy for the accused, including in some unexpected areas, as many felt the trial and sentences too heavy handed and that the Establishment and the Government were trying to make the three examples as a warning to the ‘youth’ of the country. Indeed, a stalwart of the Establishment, William Rees-Mogg, editor of The Times, used the quotation ‘Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?’ as the headline  for an editorial on 1 July 1967, and the Times carried a full-page advertisement stating that “The law against marijuana is immoral in principle and unworkable in practice”, which, comments Barnes, “further outraged the establishment”, to the extent that it was discussed in the House of Commons. The advert was signed by, among others, Graham Greene, David Bailey, Jonathan Miller and the Beatles. The campaigns succeeded and on appeal, Richards’ sentence was overturned, and Jagger’s was amended to a conditional discharge.

The book ‘Groovy Bob’ (Fig. 2) is a biography of Robert Fraser and gives insights into how his friends, clients and family reacted to his prison sentence, with contributions from many of the artists he represented and pop stars he was close friends with. Fraser’s interest in his gallery waned after his release as his heroin addiction grew worse. He closed the business in 1969, but opened another Gallery in London in 1983, this time on Cork Street, after spending time in India. Fraser died of AIDS related illness in 1989.

Fraser represented and showed many of the rising British and American artists of the period. The list is a who’s who of 1960s art and includes Peter Blake, Jann Haworth, Jim Dine, Andy Warhol, Robert Lichenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Yoko Ono, and Derek Boshier.  Apart from the Rolling Stones, he was close friends with the Beatles and was artistic director for the Beatles album ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, commissioning Peter Blake and Jann Haworth to create the now famous artwork.

Fig 3: Robert Fraser in his office at Duke Street.  No date, attributed to Ian MacMillan.  From Vyner Groovy Bob, p.157.  On the left is a soft sculpture by Jann Haworth Cowboy, 1964, now in the Pallant House Gallery collection (Wilson Gift through The Art Fund (2006))

Richard Hamilton was one of Robert Fraser’s artists and regularly showed at Fraser’s Duke Street gallery. In the Colin St John Wilson Archive held in the Library and Archives at Pallant House Galley is a handwritten post card from Robert Fraser (Fig: 4).  It is not addressed to Wilson, or dated, but it is likely to be Wilson’s invitation to the show featuring ‘Swingeing London’ works in 1969.

Fig 4: both sides of a postcard from Robert Fraser.  No date. Pallant House Gallery Library and Archives: Colin St John Wilson Archive WIL/8/46

Labels from the Robert Fraser Gallery are on the back of the works on display in the Library, and a letter Hamilton sent to Wilson mentions the show (Fig: 5). This letter shows the friendship between Richard Hamilton and Colin St John Wilson. They shared a love of James Joyce and an affinity with his great work ‘Ulysses’ as they were both born the year it was published, 1922 and were both fascinated by the work of Marcel Duchamp. The Wilson Archive includes many postcards, notes, letters, etc, giving an insight into the close relationship that can develop between artists and collector.

Fig 5: Letter from Richard Hamilton to Colin St John Wilson, 10 June 1969. Pallant House Gallery Library and Archives: Colin St John Wilson Archive WIL/9/38

Richard Hamilton was one of the many contributors to Harriet Vyner’s book (Fig 2), and discusses ‘Swingeing London’ works in his interviews:

”The Swingeing London thing I did while Robert was in jail. I had an idea I could do something, and I’d gone to the gallery and asked if there were any press cuttings. Susan, who was sitting there alone, handed me an enormous bundle of press cuttings, which I began to sort and then made collages of them. Then I worked on a painting…I don’t think there’s anything damaging about the picture from Robert’s point of view. It’s become quite a famous picture. I made a version of it for Release, the drugs organisation, which was very successful in getting money for them. It says a lot about Robert really, in a way, as a symbol of the treatment that was meted out to people in those days.”

Robert Fraser was a cultural icon and his gallery a legend in the art world. His story has been re-visited in the last decade with exhibitions at Pace London in 2015 (Fig 8) and at Gazelli Art House in 2019 (Fig 9).

The Pace London exhibition, A Strong Sweet Smell of Incense: A Portrait of Robert Fraser was a large, retrospective exhibition of artists and works Fraser sold/exhibited in his gallery.  The title ‘A Strong, Sweet Smell of incense’ is a reference to the Redlands drugs trial when the prosecuting barrister noted that the strong smell of incense in the house was probably to mask the smell of Cannabis.

Fig: 8 Brian Clarke and Harriet Vyner. A Strong Sweet Smell of Incense: A Portrait of Robert Fraser.  Pace, London. 2015. Pallant House Gallery Library and Archives.

The exhibition at Gazelli Art House in 2019 was entitled Robert Fraser’s Groovy Arts Club Band, a reference to Fraser’s nickname and to the cover of the Beatles album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which Fraser commissioned. The exhibition was ‘… a nostalgic look at the pop art movement of the 1950s and 1960s, with works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Brian Clarke, Jim Dine, Jean Dubuffet, Richard Hamilton, Keith Haring, Jann Haworth, Bridget Riley, Ed Ruscha and Colin Self’. The artists were selected by musician David Stephenson who wrote and compiled the 12” vinyl disc to accompany the catalogue.

Fig: 9 Robert Fraser’s Groovy Arts Club Band. Double 12 ” vinyl LP with artwork created by Derek Boshier. Grazelli Art House, London. 2019. Pallant House Gallery Library and Archives.

The works by Richard Hamilton and the books on Robert Fraser are on display in the Pallant House Gallery Library this October (2024).