History of the Mayor Gallery

The Mayor Gallery was the first gallery to open its doors in Cork Street. Founded by Fred Mayor (1903-1973) in 1925, many artists exhibited for the first time in England at the Mayor Gallery and included, amongst others, Bacon, Calder, Ernst, Klee, Masson, Miro and Paolozzi. The Mayor Gallery was also the centre of UNIT ONE, a group that included Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Paul Nash, Edward Wadsworth, Edward Burra and others.

Fred’s son, James Mayor, took over the Gallery in 1973 and since then the Mayor Gallery has shown the work of many leading American artists. They include: Hesse, Lichtenstein, Martin, Oldenburg, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Ryman, Twombly, Warhol and Wesselmann.

The Gallery continues to show the works of leading American Pop artists as well as European Nouveau Realism, but remains London's foremost Gallery for Dada, Zero and Surrealism.