The Sidney Sime Gallery

at Worplesdon Memorial Hall
   


   

Exhibition now open  -  last few days!

"The Art of Sidney Sime, Artist and Philosopher"

The Lightbox, Woking

15th April to 28th May 2017

The Trustees of Worplesdon Memorial Hall and the Sidney Sime Gallery are delighted to announce this exhibition exploring the life and work of Sidney Sime, 'Master of the Mysterious', through illustrations, paintings and drawings.

 

Some of the pictures on display are shown below



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The exhibition is being sponsored by Ewbank's Auctioneers to whom the Trustees are sincerely grateful.  It is also an opportunity to say thank you to the numerous people and organisations who have helped to restore many of our pictures and to make more people aware of Sime's wide-ranging artistic talent.

 

On display will be black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations, watercolours and grandiose oils, together with letters and other items of interest.  With Sime's fascination for imaginary beasts, the afterlife and worlds of fantasy, as well as beautiful Scottish scenes, local and theatrical caricatures and nursery rhyme drawings, there will be something to catch the imagination of all ages and interests.

  

Entry to the exhibition will be free.  For more about The Lightbox and how to get there, visit thelightbox.org.uk.  You may also like to read our press release issued in January.

If you have visited the exhibition and would like to join our mailing list to learn about future events connected with the Sidney Sime Gallery, please download and complete this form and return it to info@sidneysimegallery.org.uk.  We look forward to hearing from you.

  

The Sidney Sime Gallery at Worplesdon, near Guildford in Surrey, houses a major collection of the fascinating and highly characteristic work of Sidney Sime (1865-1941), the famous artist, illustrator and caricaturist.

Sidney Herbert Sime
 

Sime owned a cottage at Worplesdon - Crown Cottage - and spent much of his time there during the latter part of his life.

The gallery is on the first floor of Worplesdon Memorial Hall and was opened in 1956 with proceeds from the sale of Crown Cottage, on the death of Sime's widow Mary.  Mary bequeathed all those of her late husband's pictures that remained in her possession to the Trustees of the Worplesdon Memorial Hall for the creation of such a gallery.

The Trustees continue to make improvements to the Gallery, the most recent of which (2013) has been a complete, and extremely successful, renewal of the lighting system.  This was made possible by a grant from Surrey County Council and Guildford Borough Council through the Surrey Community Buildings Grant Scheme - support which is very gratefully acknowledged.

Paintings and drawings

There are 88 hung works on view, including theatrical caricatures, caricatures of local Worplesdon residents and landscape paintings in oil and watercolour.  In total there are over 500 catalogued items.  The Trustees pursue a continuing programme of restoration and conservation, for which they seek to attract donations and grants.

To view a selection of our pictures online, go to our online gallery page.  The oil paintings in our collection can be viewed in their entirety through the Art UK website.

Furniture

The gallery also contains some furniture used frequently by Sime:  a gate-leg table, which contains two portfolios of Sime's work and also various publications of interest;  a Windsor chair;  and a tallboy containing his original sketch books, numerous oil paintings, etchings, watercolour sketches, drawings and caricatures, and press cuttings.

Visiting the gallery

The Gallery is normally open, from 2 to 4 pm, on Bank Holiday Mondays and on the first Wednesday of each month.  However, because of the exhibition at The Lightbox in Woking, there will be no scheduled openings in May or June 2017.   Please come and visit the exhibition instead!  Regular openings will resume on Wednesday 5th July.

The Gallery is also open throughout the annual Guildford Heritage Weekend in September and can be visited at other times by appointment.  For details of where we are and how to contact us, see our visiting the gallery page.

Worplesdon Memorial Trustees

The Memorial Hall and the contents of the Sidney Sime Gallery are in the care of the Worplesdon Memorial Trustees, a registered charity.  More details can be found on the Worplesdon Memorial Hall website.

       © Worplesdon Memorial Trustees 2017