A Paradise Regained:
Neo-Romanticism in Britain
3-15 March 2025
(Private View, 2 March, 6-9pm)
11 Fitzroy Square
W1T 6BU
To RSVP for the Private View please click here
Graham Sutherland
John Piper
Prunella Clough
John Minton
Keith Vaughan
Robert Colquhoun
John Craxton
Michael Ayrton
Denton Welch
John Armstrong
Leslie Hurry
Henry Moore
Following our recent exhibitions dedicated to illustration and Neo-Romantic artists John Minton and Keith Vaughan and the first exhibition of Denton Welch’s art for over forty years, the gallery now positions these artists in the wider context of Neo-Romanticism.
Neo-Romanticism pervaded the cultural fabric of Britain from the mid-1930s, through the Second World War until the late 1950s. Inspired by Romantic visionaries Samuel Palmer and William Blake, artists including Graham Sutherland, John Piper, John Craxton, Prunella Clough and John Minton sought to capture the poetic spirit of place.
The title of the exhibition is inspired by the 1987 exhibition A Paradise Lost: The Neo-Romantic Imagination in Britain 1935-55 at the Barbican Art Gallery. It was here that Denton Welch was first considered in the context of Neo-Romanticism, but the exhibition also revealed the large number of queer artists associated with the movement.
The work of official war artists associated with Neo-Romanticism, including Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland and John Piper, will be displayed alongside a younger generation such as John Minton, Prunella Clough, John Craxton, Keith Vaughan, Denton Welch and Robert Colquhoun. The exhibition stresses the importance of the queer identity of this younger generation, who often used the Neo-Romantic style to represent their outsider status.
About
Since its launch in 2021, John Swarbrooke Fine Art has built a reputation for opening up new perspectives on modern British art. The gallery takes a thorough, art-historical approach that sets 20th-century art and artists in international cultural contexts – seeking to share discoveries, celebrate unheralded artists, and contribute whenever possible to scholarship on the field.
John Swarbrooke Fine Art presents several focused exhibitions a year in London at venues such as the Backroom Foundation, Fitzroy Square, and No. 9 Cork Street. Recent exhibitions include ‘Pixerina Witcherina’, featuring paintings and drawings by the Bloomsbury Group, and ‘Macabre’, inspired by Edward Burra’s love of the macabre. In autumn 2025 the gallery mounted the first exhibition dedicated to the art of Denton Welch in more than four decades.
The gallery has previously sold work to the British Museum, and has strong relationships with a number of museums in the UK, US and continental Europe. It participates in events and art fairs including Trois Crayons and the British Art Fair, and is a member of the Society of London Art Dealers.
For more details on exhibitions please click here
Published on the occasion of Strange Discoveries - The Art of Denton Welch, this catalogue includes texts by Alan Hollinghurst, Simon Martin, James Cahill and Zorian Clayton.
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Biography
John Swarbrooke is a leading expert on 20th-century art, with particular interests in reasserting the international networks and relevance of modern British artists, and drawing attention to artists whose work has been unduly neglected. Since the launch of John Swarbrooke Fine Art in 2021, he has successfully negotiated high-value sales to major private collectors in the UK, US and continental Europe, including works by members of the Bloomsbury Group, by British surrealists and by leading modern artists such as Picasso and Matisse.
John is the founder of the Denton Welch Society, to be launched in 2026, which celebrates the legacy of Welch and works to bring greater visibility to his art and writing. He is Chief Curatorial Advisor to the Backroom Foundation, London, curating regular exhibitions drawn from its collection of 20th-century art.
Prior to establishing John Swarbrooke Fine Art, John was a specialist at Dickinson Gallery, London, and worked in the Impressionist and Modern Art department at Sotheby’s. He studied English at the University of Cambridge before taking a Master’s degree in history of art at the Courtauld Institute.