Christopher Hull Galleries

Christopher Robert Hull (1927-2007) established his first Gallery in 1974. Hull was the son of a barrister and he also initially trained as a barrister but was never called to the Bar. Instead, he became a horse racing tipster before turning art dealer to pursue his lifelong enthusiasm for 20th-century British artists. In 1974 he was living in Wimbledon village, just off the Common, and, when a neighbouring teashop closed, he took over the premises and reopened it as the Annexe Gallery. He showed such up-and-coming artists as Tessa Newcomb. Seven years later, encouraged by his success as a dealer, he relocated his gallery to Fulham Road, and two years later uprooted again to Motcomb Street in Belgravia. Hull was enthusiastic about the Neo-Romantics of the 1940's, particularly Michael Ayrton and John Craxton, who was later to become a close friend. Gregarious by nature, he would speak to all and sundry who cared to cross his gallery threshold to discuss 'his' artists.

He closed his last gallery in 1998, mainly because of increasing ill-health, but also because the little art enclave in Belgravia, which he had helped to establish, was finally yielding to the encroaching tide of fashion boutiques.