Anne Berthoud was born in 1942 in Basel, Switzerland and is of half-English descent. In 1979, she opened her eponymous Anne Berthoud Gallery in central London, where a number of renowned British and émigré artists presented their work. Notable exhibitors have included: Frank Auerbach, Peter Kinley, Bridget Riley, and ceramicist, Magdalene Odundo, who held her first solo show the Gallery. Berthoud has also established a notable personal art collection and facilitated the acquisition of many artworks into the UK public domain.
Gallerist, curator, collector and art consultant, Anne Berthoud was born in 1942 in Basel, Switzerland and is of half English descent. In 1979, she inaugurated the Anne Berthoud Gallery, first at Langley Court in Covent Garden (see Art Review #44 online) and then at 25 Cork Street in London's Mayfair, which quickly gained prominence among the capital's elite galleries. Although the gallery is now closed (it operated for 12 years) and the buildings much redeveloped in the 2020s, Cork Street remains an important nexus within London’s vibrant modern and contemporary art world and has been the location for several iconic galleries throughout the 20th century, such as Peggy Guggenheim’s Guggenheim Juene (1938–9), and into the 21st century. Throughout her gallery career, Berthoud collaborated with leading British artists, including Sir Howard Hodgkin CH CBE, Bridget Riley CH CBE and Peter Doig. In 2014, reflecting on her lifelong professional journey, she reminisced about having ‘worked [for] 30 years enthusiastically in the art world’, as she recalled Doig’s early career when he exhibited at the Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland (Berthoud, 2014).
Many British artists, as well as first-generation and second-generation immigrant artists, exhibited at the Anne Berthoud Gallery, which was particularly active during the 1980s and 1990s. Noted early solo exhibitors include: Berlin-born British émigré painter, Frank Auerbach (1983) and Andrzej Jackowski, who has Polish roots and was born in North Wales (1984); while Charlotte Verity, British artist, born on an RAF base in Germany and spouse of Sir Christopher Le Brun PPRA, participated in Portraits and Self Portraits in 1982 and Drawings in 1983, as well as holding solo shows in 1984, 1988 and 1990. Glenn Sujo, Argentinian-born artist and art historian (who is an expert on Polish émigré painter, Jankel Adler (whose work is represented in the Ben Uri Collection) and who has settled in Britain, held a solo show in 1983 (Sujo's work is also represented in the Ben Uri Collection). Viken Parsons, painter and sculptor, and spouse of Sir Antony Gormley, showcased her work in the same year, while distinguished British sculptor, Peter Randall-Page, presented a solo exhibition in 1985. Nic Fredman, a South African-born artist and carpenter who lived in London during the 1970s and 1980s, presented a solo exhibition in 1986 and later participated in a group show in 1987 titled Flowers in Contemporary Art. Two years later, renowned English sculptor, photographer, and environmentalist, Andy Goldsworthy OBE, held a solo exhibition Touching North (1989). In the same year, a memorial exhibition was dedicated to Vienna-born, Jewish artist, Peter Kinley, marking his death the previous year. He is remembered as one of the young cohort who came to England as part of the Kindertransport initiative of 1938-39, a rescue mission for 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied territories. Later exhibitors include Kenyan-born, British studio potter, Dame Magdalene Odundo DBE, who marked her debut solo show at the gallery in 1987, while the work of the Welsh painter of Irish descent, Kevin Sinnott, featured in 1990, the same year that Portuguese artist Manuel Amado showed his work. In 1996, English painter and respected art teacher, Professor Stephen Farthing RA (Ben Uri Collection), held a solo show, Absolute Monarchy. Other notable artists on Berthoud's roster of exhibitors include Dutch-born Saskia de Boer, Simon Lewty, Robert Mason, Viktor Newsome, Jean Tinguely, and Michael Upton.
Berthoud has also established herself a collector, with a collection encompassing many different mediums and styles, and featuring a number of women artists. Standout pieces include works by Chantal Joffe RA, Glenys Johnson, Boo Ritson, Rebecca Warren, and Catherine Yass. Currently, Anne Berthoud resides in Notting Hill, London, England. The library at University Arts London holds exhibition catalogues from the gallery, while the British Museum Collection holds has a drawing of Francis Bacon by Michael Clark, a piece acquired from Berthoud in 1990. Tate Archive houses several documents pertaining to the gallery, while the Tate Library holds a collection of over 20 gallery exhibition catalogues. In addition, a number of artworks in UK public collections are recorded on ArtUK as having been purchased from Anne Berthoud.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Anne Berthoud]
Publications related to [Anne Berthoud] in the Ben Uri Library