Watts Gallery An Artists’ Village
GROUP TOURS AND VISITS 2015
Clytie, G F Watts, 1868- 81, Isabel Goldsmith Patiño gallery, Watts Gallery
Welcome to Watts Gallery, an artists’ village, founded by the Victorian artists, G F and Mary Watts. Groups of 8 or more receive discounted entry with advance booking. Exclusive tours and talks with expert guides are available as well as a variety of delicious dining options. Set in the heart of the Surrey Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty, Watts Gallery offers a unique architectural heritage and art collection. Visit with your group in 2015, enjoy the programme of temporary exhibitions and be the first to discover the newly restored Watts Studios, opening in Winter 2015.
Watts Gallery Tea Shop
Located just outside Guildford on the historic Pilgrims’ Way, Watts Gallery is easy to reach by car or coach, being moments from the A3.
Physical Energy, G F Watts c.1870 sculpture gallery, Watts Gallery
The Graham Robertson Gallery, Watts Gallery
Watts Gallery Group Gallery entry: £7pp Half an hour introductory talk: £3pp Hour-long tour: £5pp Half an hour illustrated introductory talk of the current temporary exhibition in the Old Kiln: £5pp including refreshments Discover the diverse collection of art by G F Watts (1817-1904), displayed in the restored 20th century gallery. The collection includes landscapes, portraits including Victorian greats such as Florence Nightingale and Lillie Langtry, symbolic works, social realist works and the monumental sculptures Physical Energy and Lord Alfred Tennyson. This year, see four of Watts’s masterpieces on loan from the Tate. Throughout the year there are acclaimed exhibitions on19th century artists and themes, with art works from private and national collections.
The Minotaur, G F Watts, 1885 ©Tate
2015 – Exhibitions Group Gallery entry (including exhibition entry) £7pp A Russian Fairytale: The Art and Craft of Elena Polenova 18 November 2014 – 8 February 2015 The first international exhibition of the art and design of this leading figure in the Russian Arts and Crafts movement of the 1880s. The exhibition includes enchanting fairytale illustrations, landscapes and pieces of furniture designed by Elena. Liberating Fashion: Aesthetic Dress in Victorian Portraits 17 February – 7 June 2015 Showcasing masterpieces by the Victorian greats, including G F Watts, Leighton, Burne-Jones, Alma-Tadema and Tissot alongside fashion, photography and drawings. The exhibition sheds new light on how Aestheticism led to a re-assessment of perceptions of beauty and heralded a fashion reform inspiring designs sold in Liberty of London.
The boy in the tree, 1890s, Elena Polenova, ©The Vasily Polenov Institute of Fine Art
Jane ‘Jeanie’ Elizabeth Nassau Senior, G F Watts, 1857-8, ©National Trust
The Art of Bedlam: Richard Dadd 16 June – 1 November 2015 Dadd was one of the most gifted artists of the early Victorian period, making his name with imaginative illustrations to Shakespeare. Despite later suffering from severe mental illness and spending much of his career in psychiatric hospitals, Dadd continued to create beautiful and haunting pictures including the masterpiece, The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke. Brothers in Art: Watts and Leighton 17 November 2015 – 21 February 2016 This exhibition explores the relationship between two of the most important artists of the Victorian period, G F Watts and Frederic Leighton. Watts’s wife Mary referred to them as ‘two brothers in art’, as they met daily to discuss artistic ideas and critique one another’s work. Brothers in Art: Watts and Leighton, celebrates this friendship and brings together the two artists’ works on paper for the first time. While famous for the high level of finish of their paintings, their drawings, in contrast, are as unexpectedly intimate and immediate as their friendship itself.
The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke, Richard Dadd, 1855-65, ©Tate
Study of a Female Head after Raphael’s ‘Transfiguration’, G F Watts, 1828, ©Watts Gallery
Dome of Heaven, Watts Chapel
Watts Chapel ceiling
Watts Chapel Hour-long tour: £5pp See the Grade I listed Arts & Crafts Chapel, created by Mary Watts with the help of local people. The interior is a unique example of Art Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelite influenced design employing techniques inspired by artists Burne-Jones and Walter Crane. Explore the nearby cloisters, beautiful terracotta gravestones and see the memorial to G F and Mary Watts. You can also see the Huxley family grave.
External talks Hour-long talk: £60 Invite one of our expert guides to talk to your group. Choose from topics such as the Gallery’s restoration, the Artists’ Village or the Watts Chapel and Cemetery.
Limnerslease, the Artists’ House Hour-long tour: £5pp Access by tour only Explore Limnerslease, one of the celebrated Arts & Crafts houses of Surrey. Enter the home where G F and Mary Watts lived, designed by famous architect Sir Ernest George. See the intimate rooms, examples of Compton Pottery and the decorative gesso ceilings created by Mary. These highly symbolic panels are the precursor to her decoration of the Chapel where this technique found its most sublime realisation.
Limnerslease detail
Special offers Artists’ Village Gallery entry and three hour-long tours: £19pp (excludes catering) Enjoy a full day at Watts Gallery with tours of the Gallery, the Chapel and Limnerslease. Enjoy time to explore the current temporary exhibition and add a break for delicious refreshments in the Old Kiln.
Watts Gallery
Watts & Loseley Available from May - August 2015 Entry plus half-hour tours of both venues: £16pp Visit two major visitor attractions in one day. Spend the morning at Watts Gallery and an afternoon at Loseley House, a beautiful Elizabethan mansion with award-winning gardens. Loseley House
The studio at Limnerslease, 1893
Watts’ Studios Half-hour introductory talk of the Studios: £3pp (not including entry) Hour long tour of Limnerslease: £5pp Be the first to see the newly restored Watts Studios, opening in Winter 2015. Explore G F Watts’s restored studio and see work not normally on display. Learn about the life and work of Mary and G F Watts and watch specially commissioned films in the Compton Gallery telling the story of the Watts’s lives. Touch examples of gesso and terracotta and discover the techniques Mary used in the creation of her greatest work, the Watts Chapel. See the twelve panels of the Mary Watts Aldershot Panels in the Mary Watts Gallery. These have been displayed only once since being rescued from the Cambridge Military Hospital Chapel over a decade ago. The
frieze has been brought back to life by conservators, enabling the public to once again view this wonderful piece of art. Outside, enjoy the newly designed landscapes and discover previously hidden features including a pet cemetery and a memorial cross designed by Mary Watts. Stroll through woodland pathways, planted by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan and garden designers from RHS Wisley. Take the chance to see the only complete artists’ home and studios from the19th century by combining your visit to the studios with a tour of Limnerslease, the artists’ home. Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Tea Shop at Watts Gallery
Plan your group visit
How to find us
Catering in the Old Kiln
Coach: Coaches can drop their group at the Gallery and park at Loseley Park car park, 5 minutes away (postcode GU3 1HS). Car: From the A3, take the B3000 Godalming slip road, follow brown signs to Watts Gallery and then signs for Compton. First left off the B3000. Bus: No.46 from Guildford bus station. Mon-Sat, 9am-6pm.
Enjoy a morning coffee break, delicious lunch or indulgent afternoon tea, all made in our traditional Tea Shop. Groups can take advantage of the pre-bookable dining area which housed the original kiln used by Mary Watts. A range of catering packages are on offer, prices from £3-£9pp
Opening times
Gallery: 11am-5pm Tuesday – Sunday. Closed on Monday except Bank Holidays Pottery Building (Visitor Centre & Shop, and Pottery Gallery showing commercial art exhibitions): 10.30am-5.15pm daily Tea Shop: 10.30am - 5.15pm daily
Access
Watts Gallery, Visitor Centre & Shop and Tea Shop are fully accessible. Dedicated parking spaces are available for disabled visitors. We regret Limnerslease and the Pottery Gallery are not currently wheelchair accessible. Watts Chapel tours include a 10-minute walk and a steep cobbled path on arrival. Limnerslease tours include a 10-minute walk with uphill sections.
Rail: Guildford Station. Trains from London Waterloo run direct, approximately 4 times an hour. 5 minute taxi drive from station. Walk or cycle: Along the North Downs Way in the Surrey Hills. To discuss booking a group visit contact: T: 01483 813 589 E: groups@wattsgallery.org.uk Watts Gallery, Down Lane, Compton, Guildford, Surrey, GU3 1DQ
www.wattsgallery.org.uk