Archive of the Phoenix Group of Artists, Brighton, formerly the Sussex Women's Art...

Contents

1 Council meeting minutes and agendas, 1934-1990

2 AGM minutes and agendas, 1927-1993

3 Sussex Women's Art Club annual reports and statements of accounts, 1926-1936

4 The Phoenix Group statements of accounts, 1975-1993

5 Rules, 1960-1987

6 Lists of members, 1985-1993

7 Visitors' books, 1960-1990

8 Stewards' and sales records, 1986-1993

9 New Sussex Art Club Exhibitions, 1960

10 Phoenix Group Exhibitions, 1968-1994

11 Other exhibitions, 1987-1989

12 Publicity artwork, 1986-1992

13 Papers of Mrs C B Parks Bradbury, circa 1968

14 Papers of Molly Harvey, 1972

15 Papers of Enid Radford, 1980-1990

16 Papers of Patrick McCloskey, 1963

Records deposited on 23 March 1999 and 14 February 2000 (ACC 7862)

The Sussex Women's Art Club was founded by a group of professional women artists in 1906 because the existing Brighton Arts Club did not admit women as members. They rented a Club Room at the Norfolk Studios and held joint annual exhibitions at various galleries in Brighton and Hove and elsewhere in the county. Fire broke out at the Studios at the end of May 1926 damaging the Club Room and its contents including works of art. No records survive for the Group before this date.

In September 1934 the lease of the Club Room at the Norfolk Studios was not available for renewal and Brighton Arts Club allowed the Sussex Women's Art Club to rent their Club Room at 19 West Street, Brighton. Meetings continued to be held in West Street until the tenancy of the Club Room was given up in September 1959. In 1960 the men's club was disbanded and the Sussex Women's Art Club was reformed as the New Sussex Art Club open to both men and women. Members were admitted on submission of examples of their work and a majority vote of the committee. The Club aimed to maintain as high a standard as possible and mounted at least one exhibition each year at a variety of venues. In April 1963 the name of the Club was changed to the Phoenix Group to avoid possible confusion with other clubs using the word Sussex in their title.

By 1980 the Group had between 40 and 50 members, both professional and amateur, including a number of prominent figures. Charles Knight RWS ROI, vice-principal of Brighton College of Art, vice-president of the Water Colour Society and a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, became the President of the Phoenix Group in 1975 on the retirement of Dorothy Coke, who had been the President since 1965. He continued in office until his death in 1991, when John Skelton MBE FRSB FRSA was invited to take up the post. The Phoenix Group was finally disbanded in 1994.

Ronald Horton (1902-1981), associate of the Royal College of Art and lecturer at Brighton College of Arts and Crafts, joined the Phoenix Group in 1969 and remained a member until his death in 1981. A retrospective exhibition of his life and work was held by Brighton Polytechnic in 1982. For the archive of Ronald Horton, 1849-c1980, see AMS 6375; for the archive of his brother, Percy Horton MA RBA ARCA (1897-1970), painter and Ruskin Master of Drawing, University of Oxford, 1949-1964, see ACC 7828.