Borough Group

In 1947 a group of David Bomberg's students from the Borough Polytechnic exhibited at the Archer Gallery in London under the collective name of the 'Borough Group', and the following year a group of the same name was formed with Bomberg as its first President. Its aim was to promote a greater understanding of Bomberg's ideas and teaching by presenting exhibitions of both his work and that of his students. Founder members included Lilian Bomberg, Cliff Holden, Edna Mann, Leslie Marr, Dorothy Mead, Dinora Mendleson, Dorothy Missen, Len Missen, and Peter Richmond. The Group had a permanent exhibition at Leslie Marr's bookshop 'The Bookworm' and, in addition, there were shows at the Archer Gallery. They also participated in the London County Council Embankment Exhibition and in 1949 showed at the Arcade Gallery and Brasenose College, Oxford.

The Group was dissolved in 1951, reforming in 1953 as the Borough Bottega with aims and membership similar to those of the original group. The Group held its exhibitions at the Heffer Gallery, Cambridge and at the Berkeley Galleries, London after the dissolution of the 'Borough Group'. Active for just two years, the final *Bottega exhibition was held at Walker's Gallery, 118 New Bond Street, London on 21st March - 2nd April 1955. The catalogue lists the names of the participating artists as David Bomberg, Lilian Holt, Dinora Mendelson, Leslie Marr, Richard Michelmore, Garth Scott, Roy Oxlade, Cecil Bailey and Anthony Hatwell.

In 2011, London South Bank University was awarded a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop a programme of work exploring 'A David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection'. This grant has enabled the University to build a new gallery dedicated to exhibiting work from the collection, and to carry out related programmes of exhibitions, events and education activities until November 2013. The Borough Road Gallery has been built in the same building in which Bomberg’s legendary classes took place. An important and informative exhibition was held in 2015 organised by Waterhouse & Dodd, London.

*A Bottega (derived from the Italian for 'Workshop') is a system where a student or group of students study under a master who they sometimes assist on large projects.