The Sidney Sime Gallery

at Worplesdon Memorial Hall
   


   

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.

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.

The Trustees pursue a continuing programme of restoration and conservation.  They would like to express their gratitude to the many organizations and individuals who have supported this programme through grants and donations.

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.

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.

 

FRIENDS OF THE SIME GALLERY

If you would like to support the Gallery and hear about the latest developments, then you will soon have the chance to join the Friends of the Sime Gallery, due to be launched towards the end of 2017.

If this is likely to interest you and you would like to join our mailing list, please complete this form and return it to us.

We look forward to hearing from you!


"The Art of Sidney Sime, Artist and Philosopher"

This 50-page illustrated booklet is available at £5 plus postage and packing. Please contact us for details.


BOGEY BEASTS

The Gallery has produced the first ever video presentation of the 1923 book Bogey Beasts by Sidney Sime and Joseph Holbrooke!  Find it on our YouTube page.

       © Worplesdon Memorial Trustees 2017