Marjorie Parr Gallery

Marjorie Parr founded her original gallery at 285 Kings Road, Chelsea (now a shoe, dress and accessories shop) in 1963 and it was to carry on for nearly 20 years. Kings Road attracted collectors, fellow dealers, artists and very many passers buy. Amongst the many artists she championed in the capital were Cornish based and related artists. Her early Kings Road exhibitions included shows by artist Guy Wordsell, who opened the new gallery, painter John Hitchens, sculptors Peter Ball, Roger Leigh, Peter Thursby, Elisabeth Frink, Enzo Plazzotta, F. E. McWilliam, textile designer Tadek Beutlich and paintings by a young Michael Andrews. In May 1968 the success of her London gallery prompted her to buy a property in Wills Lane, St. Ives, Cornwall and by the following April 1969, it was successfully opened with her showing in the next two years the good and the great of the famous Cornish art colony. These would include sculptors, artists, potters and painters such as Denis Mitchell, Barbara Hepworth, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, John Wells, Bernard Leech, Janet Leech, Patrick Heron and Peter Lanyon to name but a very few.

In 1971 after what appeared to be a successful time in St. Ives, Marjorie Parr sold her Wills Lane gallery to Peter Gibbs from Cheltenham. The reasons are not known and even Peter Davies’ fine biography on Parr does not make it clear. Scottish art was not ignored and Parr showed the works of Robin Philipson, Elizabeth Blackadder, John Houston, Denis Peploe and David Michie in both London and later in Cornwall. Marjorie Parr sold her King Street gallery to David Gilbert in July 1974 but continued to assist him at the gallery until the end of 1975. Gilbert renamed the gallery in March 1977 to the Gilbert Parr Gallery and continued to trade successfully until he finally closed it in October, 1982. He moved to the Black Forest in Bavaria, Germany. Marjorie died on May 27th 2007 in her 101st year.