The Kennel Club has the largest canine art collection in Europe. With the refurbishment of the Kennel Club’s headquarters at Clarges Street in the late 1990s, the opportunity for a gallery space arose. The first task of the Library & Gallery Panel was to design a gallery space befitting the Kennel Club’s fine art collection and suitable for hosting what would become a very successful on-going series of temporary exhibitions.
The space combines tradition and elegance with the functional requirements of a modern art gallery. An idea from Ronnie Irving, when he was Chairman of the Kennel Club, was a request to Tate Britain to have on long-term loan the iconic painting A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society by Sir Edwin Landseer. The request was granted and we are very proud that it hangs in the Kennel Club Art Gallery. To date the art gallery has hosted 25 themed exhibitions and 5 Christmas Art Fairs. The Library & Collections staff have co-ordinated the loans of thousands of artworks, many of which form part of private collections, making these exhibitions the most unique and exclusive displays of canine art in the world.
