Meet The Gallery – Galerie Prints
Q1. Where is your gallery based?
Wimbledon Park, London.
Q2. When was the gallery established?
2011.
Q3. What is the history of the gallery?
Galerie Prints was originally created to offer premium darkroom produced silver gelatin as well as silver halide crystal colour prints by renowned photographers and has since grown to include beautiful works on archival pigment and other media by an exciting wide range of artists.
Q4. In the early days of your gallery, what are some of the artists, prints or artworks that you dealt in?
We started out as and still are, Slim Aarons specialists offering almost 800 works by the American socialite photographer most famed for his work Poolside Gossip which featured the Kaufmann House designed by Richard Neutra and swimming pool flanked by 2 glamorous ladies sitting in the forefront by the pool in Palm Springs in 1970.
His simple and hugely successful formula of “photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places” is what has since thrust Slim’s works into the mainstream limelight.
We offer both Open and Limited Estate Stamped prints.
In addition we offered works by Terry O’Neill, Michael Putland, Thurston Hopkins, Bert Hardy and Dorothea Lange including the infamous Migrant Mother portrait.
Q5. Who are the main artists or art movements that your gallery now specialises in?
We have since grown to offer Limited Estate prints by fashion photographer Norman Parkinson including his famous Cardin Hat Over Paris, Pink Flowers Audrey Hepburn portrait and many others as well as works by Justin De Villeneuve – famous for his Twiggy portraits and David Bowie Pin Ups cover shot with the 60s supermodel.
We offer works by contemporary pop artists BATIK and Blank Barbie, photographers Kevin Westenberg, Marcus Klinko and many many more.
We are always evolving and always take time to consider submissions.
We now offer over 5,000 works online.
Q6. If you could invite any three artists (living or no longer alive) to a dinner party, who would they be and why?
It would have to be Slim Aarons of course !
This photographer’s work spans over 6 decades from the 1940s through to the 1990s and included some of the most iconic personalities, fashions and places around the world so am sure he would have a story or two to tell!
Terry O’Neill would have to be a choice. I knew him personally through work and he was always a gentleman with a glint in his eye – quick to laugh and joke but also always professional when sign in prints for us. Having photographed popular culture icons of our time I think he would be an interesting conversationalist.
Lastly the highly renowned music photographer Kevin Westenberg – who has photographed many a music star and has many stories to tell about his May shoots and the personalities featured in them – some of which I have had the pleasure of listening to personally.
Let me just say you would never quite think of Sting or Jon Bonjovi in quite the same way again!
Q7. If you could own any one particular artwork, regardless of value, what would it be (title, artist), and why?
Damien Hirst’s famous shark in formaldehyde piece The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. It’s a Ln amazing work and concept and has changed the art world forever. It’s very strong simple and extremely cool.
Q8. Who is your favourite artist of all time, and why?
Richard Deacon the sculptor. His unique language of form is beautiful, striking and completely new and has charged my way of thinking about and looking at any object.
Q9. What are some of the recent acquisitions made by your gallery?
Cardin Hat Over Paris by Norman Parkinson features a model in a delighted pose in a helicopter over Paris with a view of the Eiffel Tower. 1960
Mike Tyson 1997 being restrained by police officers after his fight with Ivander Holyfield during which he infamously bit a part of Holyfields ear off.
Fog Series by Fleur Olby – an exquisite series of shots of a landscape over water in varying hues of blue and violet pre and post dawn in Yorkshire.
Q10. What advice would you offer print collectors in building a collection or simply buying prints?
Choose what you really really like – and ensure it is a Limited Edition and hand signed if possible.
This not only ensures a piece retains its value but likely to increase over time.
