London's Leading Space for Equestrian Art: The Osborne Studio Gallery

Director-founder Geoffrey Hughes, a lover of the racecourse since boyhood, studied decorative art, learnt about the art market by working in auction houses, started his first gallery in Whitstable aged 22, now sells paintings and bronzes that will stand the test of time.   

To mark 25 years on Motcomb Street, the gallery are presenting a collection of 25 paintings and bronzes by 25 of their most successful artists, from April 19th until May 13th.    

Since the launch of the first Osborne Studio Gallery, in Covent Garden by HRH the Princess Royal followed by 2 Motcomb Street SW1 in 1998, Geoffrey Hughes guides his clients towards paintings and sculpture that reflect their own tastes, oblivious to transient fads or fashion. 

He has kept a connection with the Royal family and their equestrian tradition. The late Queen Elizabeth II  collected work by some of her favourite artists.  Her Majesty The Queen Consort  has written forewords to exhibitions of Sir Alfred Munnings and master of animal portraiture, her neighbour, mentor and friend, Neil Forster.  

Subjects of paintings could be a field of flowers, a racecourse, a Cornish beach, or a Renaissance palace. These are purchases intended to lighten up customers’ lives with aesthetic pleasure every day; buying for pleasure, not profit. Visitors are not patronised but encouraged to find a work of art that might take them to an evocative place, bring back the memory of a taste or a perfume on a magic holiday.

The gallery specialises in figurative art, often equestrian, but also landscape, seascape, wildlife and evocative scenes in fields, mountains, cities, and deserts around the world. In Geoffrey’s words: “Our art tends not to be photographic. We’re more interested in impressionistic work. Accurate detail, as in a portrait commission, is less important than a mood and feel of what’s going on.”

Motcomb Street, home of the gallery for 25 years, is crammed with cafes, bars, and local artisan shops, a few steps away from white mansions, luxury stores, stately embassies. It is a friendly informal space on two floors, with a lush back garden graced by nubile nymphs by sculptor Jonathan Wylder.   

Geoffrey Hughes has spent many years discovering and nurturing his stable. He understood that he needed to develop a distinctive personality for the gallery to make its mark. Today it is recognised as the most important source in London for sporting art. Geoffrey Hughes has won the confidence of serious collectors, connoisseurs, owners, trainers and breeders and leaders of the racing world. 

He seeks out originality, in his own words explains “What I’m really looking for, particularly with equestrian art, is something that is different. We look for people who are A, good and B, identifiable.” He admits to scouring the walls of houses when he is out to dinner, rather than concentrating on talking to his host.  He observes: “some of our leading artists don’t really want to be known as equestrian artists, they are part of mainstream art. We have collectors who will come into the gallery and see something as a fabulous painting rather than as a horse painting.”

Franco-Belgian artist, Elie Lambert, is one of those whose appeal transcends any restrictions imposed by the ‘sporting art’ genre.

Sir Peter 0’Sullevan, revered Voice of Racing, former Chairman of Osborne Studio Gallery, collected the light-hearted painting of Elie Lambert, enjoyed their cartoon-ish irony, he considered Lambert the ‘Lowry of the Racing World.’  Buyers and commentators with little or no interest in horses are drawn to his vivid depictions of racecourses, not deterred by lack of saddles and stirrups. Elie Lambert has a unique original style, transcends fashion.

Three of Geoffrey Hughes’ most successful artists are consumed by a love of horse racing. Paintings by French artist Hubert de Watrigant, son of a trainer-breeder, Dublin-born, Katie 0’Sullivan, married to bespoke trainer Jamie Osborne,  and Mao Wen Biao, a master of spectacular murals as well the accurate depiction of speed, are in the collections of her late Majesty HRH Queen Elizabeth, ruling dynasties of the Middle East, banking, shipping and art magnates including the Rothschild, Niarchos and Wildenstein families.   

In essence it is affection for nature, from rolling green hills to silent Antarctic peaks, from polished thoroughbred to majestic elephant or battling bird of prey, that informs all art on show at The Osborne Studio Gallery.