The New English Art Club

“The last NEAC selection committee to be held at the Old Egyptian Hall in 1904 featuring Augustus John (hat, hands in pockets), William Rothenstein (seated on table), Roger Fry (seated next to Rothenstein), Muirhead Bone (the second hat-wearer) and Philip Wilson Steer (in front of Bone)”.

Image taken from https://www.newenglishartclub.co.uk/past-members/ , accessed 15/06/2025.

The New English Art Club (NEAC) is a distinguished artists' society that was founded in 1886 as an alternative to the Royal Academy. It emerged from a collective desire among young British artists to break away from the Academy's perceived preference for classical academic technique and style, and overly sentimental and moralistic subjects that had become popular with the generation that had followed in the footsteps of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The group of artists who initially set up the NEAC shared artistic roots in French Impressionism but the organisation came to be associated with a broader support for figurative painting based upon the study of nature. Against a backdrop of popular twentieth-century abstract and conceptual artistic movements, the NEAC has maintained a reputation for supporting sincere, skilful, nuanced and sensitive British art throughout the decades.     

Artistic context: French naturalism and Impressionism.  

Understanding the broader cultural and artistic context from which the NEAC was formed provides insight into the values that have served as foundational principles throughout its history. Founding members such as George Clausen, Walter Richard Sickert, John Singer Sargent, Philip Wilson Steer, and Alexander Stanhope Forbes had received training with many of the most influential Parisian artist-ateliers such as the Académie Julian, Carolus Duran and Jules Bastien-Lepage. The former institution provided a cosmopolitan education in academic technique based on the live-model, whilst the latter artists promoted ideas of individualistic style and philosophical approaches to painting. Bastien-Lepage was particularly influential through his ideas of “naturalism”. This was a late evolution of “realism” as had been practiced by artists such as Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet. Naturalism continued the realist rejection of idealism in art and took things further by insisting on sincere engagement with the natural, often outside of the studio: “en plein-air”, without overt political or moral agenda.

This movement reflected broader late nineteenth-century ideas that attempted to make sense of the world in the wake of the spiritual and social disruption caused by scientific discoveries, particularly the theory of evolution. Sceptical of traditional sources of political, spiritual and cultural authority, writers, composers, philosophers and artists sought to apply new scientific approaches to art through a renewed focus on the natural world. Émile Zola is the best known exponent of the naturalist approach in French literature of the period, and was an influential critic and supporter of the Impressionist artists group, who applied naturalist principles to an initially controversial degree. The first Impressionist exhibitions were held in Paris in the mid-1870s and garnered notoriety and popularity for artists such as Monet, Cézanne, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro and Sisley. It is arguable that these early exhibitions created the first truly modern art movement which received international news coverage and had significant influence on other artists globally. 

Group associated with the New English Art Club by Sir William Orpen, pencil, black chalk (or charcoal), pen, ink and watercolour, circa 1904.

Orpen studied at the Slade School of art in 1897 and started exhibiting with the NEAC from 1899 onwards. Habitually reticent about being associated too closely with any one group, Orpen’s caricature should be seen as a playful jibe at his fellow club members. The image shows, from left to right, Alphonse Legros (renowned teacher at the Slade) and Auguste Rodin leading a group of NEAC members out onto the windswept cliffs: Philip Wilson Steer, Henry Tonks, Frederick Brown, William Rothenstein, Augustus John, Charles Conder, Dugald Sutherland MacColl.

Image taken from https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw09591/Group-associated-with-the-New-English-Art-Club , accessed 15/06/2025.

Origins and Founding.

Many of the British artists who travelled to Paris in the 1870s and 1880s were inspired by the latest artistic ideas, Impressionism in particular. However, the British art institutions of the time were not receptive to these latest “trends”. This brought together a group of British artists, many of them considered Impressionists, in order to create exhibition opportunities for more progressive art styles. One name considered for the group was the “Society of Anglo-French Painters”, which provides a clear indication of the group’s initial impetus, but the more general, “New English Art Club” was eventually adopted. The organisation was set up on democratic lines with the membership voting on new members and making up the large exhibition jury panels. Whilst initially championing specifically plein-air, Impressionist inspired painting, the group quickly opened up to artists with a variety of artistic styles. Members were unified by a general aesthetic outlook that placed the observation of nature and modern life at front and centre, but were not constrained to a common pictorial style. This has remained a significant feature of the club to the present.

The Selecting Jury of the New English Art Club, 1909 by Sir William Orpen, Oil on canvas, 1909.

Inscribed with the names of the sitters: “MACCOLL / RICH / BROWN / McEVOY / ORPEN / SICKERT / STEER / JOHN / TONKS / ROTHENSTEIN”.

Taken from https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitExtended/mw00840/The-Selecting-Jury-of-the-New-English-Art-Club-1909#ref8 , accessed 15/06/2025.

NEAC exhibitions.

The inaugural exhibition was held at the Marlborough Gallery on Pall Mall, which had formerly served as the headquarters for the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours. There were fifty original club members, forty-three of whom exhibited. Regular spring and autumn exhibitions were staged at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly. Following its the closure in 1905, the NEAC sought various venues that were sympathetic to its ethos. The Victoria Art Gallery in Bath became a notable location, hosting six exhibitions of members' work between 1907 and 1947. Throughout the mid-twentieth century exhibition venues extended to various galleries across the UK. These exhibitions featured a blend of works by current members and notable past members, reflecting the club's commitment to showcasing both contemporary and historical figurative art. In recent decades, the NEAC has continued to hold its annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries in London.    

Artistic Evolution and Challenges

The club quickly gained recognition and became a significant force in British art during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The turn of the century has been described as a “golden period” for the club, with historically important artists such as Walter Sickert, Henry Tonks, Philip Wilson Steer, William Rothenstein and Augustus John participating as active members during the most fruitful years of their careers.  Most of the “Camden Town Group” (est. 1911) and the “London Group” (est. 1913) started their careers within the orbit of the NEAC and it formed an essential part of their development.

For a while the club became closely associated with the Slade School of art that had been established in 1871. Under the leadership of Sir Edward Poynter the school introduced a curriculum centred on drawing from the live model, based upon French examples, which was not commonplace in Britain at the time. Familiar with the French approach to teaching, many of the club members trained and/or taught at the Slade at one point or other in their careers and in this way they were able to foster and influence the next generation of British artistic talent.

The 1920s saw the likes of Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash, Duncan Grant and Mark Gertler as new members. By this time, new progressive art movements that challenged previous conceptions of figurative art had gained traction. Expressionist, abstract and conceptual art styles became fashionable and the club faced challenges by staying true to its founding ethos. In some respects a victim of its own success, the French-inspired art styles that had once distinguished the club had become part of establishment taste. By the 1950s the club had in many respects become part of the artistic establishment and the membership was close to the Royal Academy. However, as the academy started to embrace abstract and conceptual art, the NEAC maintained its commitment to figurative and observational painting. Despite the changing of artistic fashions throughout the decades of the twentieth century, the NEAC's influence has remained significant in the British art scene, attracting both established and emerging artists who valued its dedication to traditional techniques. While the broader art world experienced shifts towards abstraction and conceptual art, the NEAC's focus on figurative painting provided a platform for artists who sought to preserve and promote these styles.

Today, it continues to support contemporary British artists through its annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries in London and offers educational programs, scholarships, and a stage for emerging artists to showcase their work. The NEAC's history reflects the evolving landscape of British art, from its roots in Impressionism to its adaptation in the face of modern and contemporary artistic developments. It remains a testament to the enduring value of observational painting and the importance of providing artists with a platform to express contemporary life. 

For more information about the NEAC, current artists, programs and exhibitions please visit: https://www.newenglishartclub.co.uk/ .