Gallery Girls
"Discreetly tucked away behind the Royal Academy in Mayfair is Cork Street, a destination that is to art lovers what nearby Savile Row is to fans of fine tailoring. With economic pressures, and some ambitious plans for the future, it's a momentous time for the gallery owners, but they have seen many changes in the past and are well placed to look ahead to the future. We speak to the women who have helped to build this art institution."Angela Flowers, founder of Flowers Gallery "I don't think I have a very commercial eye. My son, Matthew Flowers who's Managing Director of Flowers Gallery, is much more commercial than I am. But I have got an eye for good art. I just get a gut feeling about the quality of the work, and the artist. And whether they're going to stick with it and work 100 per cent of the time. I'd always enjoyed art at school, I was quite good at it, but I never wanted to be an artist. If anything, I wanted to go on the stage - I went to the Webber Douglas School of singing and dramatic art. Then I went to Paris and studied art and music and French elocution. When I was married to the photographer Adrian Flowers we went down to St Ives and met all the artists there. And because he was such a good photographer they asked him to photograph their work, and we started getting a collection together because they paid in kind with art. So I started thinking I was in the art world - I don't know why. It was very strange, because I'd never worked in a gallery. And then an architect friend asked if I'd go and look at some premises, because he thought they'd make a good gallery. I said, "Why are you asking me? I've never worked in a gallery." And he said, "You'd be awfully good at it." I couldn't resist that. I opened our first gallery on Lisle Street in February 1970. My husband Robert Heller, who very sadly died a few months ago, was a most wonderful man. He was an enormous support to the gallery in every way and kept us going in the 70s and 80s. The 1970s were the toughest times, worse than now. Over the years it's been wonderful to get to know such tremendous artists and to be able to represent and help them. We try to support them through the bad times as well. The first artist I ever showed was Patrick Hughes who's still with us. He's tremendous, as are Boyd & Evans, David Hepher, John Loker. They've all come from that first year. They become like family. I find they're incredibly supportive towards each other, which is always terrific. I'd always resisted Cork Street, because one of my reasons for opening a gallery was that I didn't like the snootiness in some of the galleries there. But I gave in and opened one in 2000, and of course I'm really pleased to be here. It's wonderful. It is the gallery street really, and has been for a long time. There are people like Victor Waddington, who my parents used to go to buy things from. It's near the Royal Academy, near Bond Street where people go shopping and with any luck they come round the corner. You get passing trade there, which we don't get so much at our gallery in Shoreditch. I've always been interested in different media, I was probably the first gallery to show colour photography. I had loads of performance so it rather irritates me when Nick Serota says "Isn't it wonderful, we're having performance art. It's all brand new." Not at all, I was doing it in 1970, and 71! My son Matthew started helping out when he was still at school, working on Saturday mornings. It's a great comfort to know the business is in his hands now. I've given him a pretty generous rein, but I'm hoping we're going to go back to showing younger artists in the future."
Angela Flowers will be celebrating her 80th birthday with a special exhibition at her East Flowers Gallery 'Angela at 80,' featuring works by artists such as Richard Smith and Phillip King, until 9 February. "