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Taranman Art Gallery - 1972-1982 - Christopher Hewett at Taranman, Londres 1974Archives

In 1974 after various long stays in the Sahara desert, Christopher Hewett inaugurates Taranman Gallery on Brompton Road,  Knightsbridge, mainly to exhibit and sell some of the beautiful tuareg and berber pottery, rugs and ceramics he had collected in North Africa. 

This first project wasn't a success and soon after, he chooses to continue in another direction with Taranman Drawings, Etchings and Fine Books, and starts exhibiting mid-century British, French and American artists.

In parallel he goes into editing fine books and creates exceptional catalogues for the exhibiting artists.

Nicolas Barker, the British historian in the world of printing and books, compares these catalogues to the ones produced by the famous private press Officina Bodoni, Verona 1922- 1977, well known for editing books of maximum quality and craftsmanship.

 

Taranman edited 29 exhibition catalogues, and the following five publications:

Strachan Walter, Poems 1976. 

Segalen Victor, Chine ou Le Pouvoir dans l'Etendue 1978.  

McEwen Rory and Koch Kenneth, From the Air 1979. 

Lecuire Pierre, Textes 1980. De Staël, Nicolas -  Lettres a Jacques Dubourg 1981.

The Living Curve. Letters to W.J - Strachan, 1929 - 1979.

 

There were no catalogues for the following main exhibitions: Nicol Allan (1979), Paul Caffel (1983), Sir Hugh Casson (1983), Geoffrey Clarke (1982), Bryan Kneale (1981), Barry Martin (1978), Bernard Meadows (1979, 1980, 1983), William Morris "Cupid and the Psyche" wood-cuts (1979).

 

Exhibitions were held to mark the following:

Pierre Lecuire - Sonnets Funebres. Engravings by Fermin Aguayo. 1975. Exhibition 1-30 March 1976.

Pierre Lecuire - Cortege. Illustrated by André Lanskoy (1959). Exhibition 16 September -14 October 1977.

Victor Segalen - Chine ou Le Pouvoir dans l'Etandue. Exhibition 30 October- 18 November 1978.

Pierre Lecuire - Textes with cover portrait of Pierre Lecuire by Vera Pagava. Exhibition 14 April - 28 April 1980. 

 

The following artists were included in the exhibition Le Livre des Livres by Pierre Lecuire (Catalogue n.5): Fermin Aguayo, Geneviève Asse, César, Serge Charchoune, Claude Garache, Charles Marq, Etienne Martin, Jean Messagier, Henry Moore, Vera Pagava, Hercules Seghers, Vieira da Silva, Brigitte Simon, Arpad Szénés, Pierre Tal Coat, Raoul Ubac.

Mixed exhibitions were held during March 1976, October 1978, and December 1981/January 1982. Artists, other than above, who were shown in mixed exhibitions: Elisabeth Butler, Reg Butler, Lynn Chadwick, Prunella Clough, Colin Crumplin, Graham Ibbeson, Abram Krol, André Lanskoy, Ezra Orion, Nicola Pope.

 

Homage to Christopher Hewett, Jacob Gallery, Paris 1988

 

The publication of these sixty-three unpublished letters from Christopher Hewett (1938-1983) to French friends, and the exhibition at the Jacob Gallery dedicated to "Christopher Hewett and French Dominion" that accompanies this publication, represents France's tribute to the person and work, interrupted too soon, of the young talent of English culture, who, nourished by the culture of his two homelands, knew how to express, for ten years, a vision of the world of art through exemplary exhibitions and publications with talent, elegance and rigor.

 

This commemoration adds to the double tribute that Great Britain already paid to Christopher Hewett, in 1984 in London, Taranman Gallery, and then in 1987 at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Exhibitions

  • 25 February - 27 March 1982 –

  • Barry Martin -New Work- 8 March - 5 April 1978 –

  • Bernard Meadows - Drawings for Sculpture -15 November - 31 December 1975 –

  • Geneviève Asse - 15 January - 14 February 1981 –

  • Geoffrey Clarke - 19 May - 30 June 1975 –

  • Geoffrey Clarke - Early engraved Work and Iron Sculpture - 9 June - 15 July 1976 –

  • Hugh Casson's London –

  • Kenneth Armitage - New Sculpture and Collages - 20 October - 11 December 1982 –

  • Nicolas de Staël - 12 October- 28 November 1981 –

  • Recent paintings - 3 December - 31 December 1977 –

  • UBAC - 9 October - 8 November 1980 –

  • Victor Segalen (1878 - 1919) - 1978 –

Catalogues

  • BRIGITTE SIMON - 1977 catalogue, Recent paintings. Introduction by Fenella Crichton. – Cover illustration Seléné (1977) Oli on canvas, 19 x 24 cm

  • BRYAN KNEALE- 1977 catalogue, Small Sculpture and Maquettes. Introduction by Hilary Spurling. – On the cover, TARA (1977) Bronze, 9,5 x 14 cm. Edition of 8

  • CHRISTOPHER HEWETT (1938 -1983) - A Memorial Booklet 1984. – Cover vignette by Sir Hugh Casson, P.R.A.

  • CHRISTOPHER HEWETT ET LE DOMAINE FRANÇAIS - On the cover, engraving by Geoffrey Clarke, "Termination of an illustrated letter." Metaphysical portrait of Christopher Hewett. Paris, 1988 –

  • GEOFFREY CLARKE - 1976 catalogue, introduction by Walter Strachan - Early engraved Work and Iron Sculpture – On the cover, Head T23 ii (1956) Sugar aquatint 23,9 x 24,4 cm

  • GERD HARTMANN -1977 catalogue, Die Welt als Wille und Verstellung. Introduction by Gudrun Inboden. – On the cover- FIGUR MIT HORIZONT (1976) - Pastel, 30 x 22

  • HOMAGE TO CHRISTOPHER HEWETT - François Chapon et Pierre Lecuire - Bulletin du bibliophile II/1984 à 50 exemplaires hors commerce n. 7 –

  • JOHN BARNICOAT- 1977 catalogue, Works on paper. Introduction by Peter Porter – Cover illustration, Hidden White (1975) Gouache, each 26 x 26 cm

  • KENNETH ARMITAGE New Sculptures and Collages - with a preface by Roland Penrose and an essay by <john MC Ewen – Taranaman London 1982

  • NICOL ALLAN- 1982 catalogue with preface by Gerard Nordland –

  • NICOLAS DE STAËL - 1981 catalogue - Drawings and Engraved Work with a preface by Denys Sutton and essay by Nicolas Barker – Cover illustration Grappe de raisins Brush and India ink, 310 x 370, 1954 Jacques Dubourg Collection, Paris

  • NICOLAS DE STAËL - 1981 catalogue LETTRES A JACQUES DUBOURG – On cover Agrigente, dessin (1953) Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

  • PIERRE LECUIRE - 1980 catalogue TEXTES – On the cover Portrait de Pierre Lecuire, gravure de Vera Pagava

  • RORY MC EWEN- 1980 catalogue with a preface by Fenella Crichton – Cover illustration I Redcliffe Square, London (1979) Watercolour on vellum, 22,3 x 19 cm

  • UBAC - 1980 catalogue, Ardoises. Introduction by Christopher Hewett. – Cover illustration Arbre I (1979) Slate relief, 195 x 95 mm

  • VICTOR SEGALEN - 1978 catalogue - Chine ou Le Pouvoir dans l'Etendue – On the cover Tumulus de l'Empereur TS´IN, face sud Cliché des Musées Nationaux, Paris