Art - Fusion

The latest exhibition in the Thebes Gallery, entitled ‘Fusion’ is by the 16-strong A22 group of artists, named after the road which used to connect many of them with the art school they all met at, then called ECAP, now the South Downs College in Eastbourne. We’re promised an eclectic mix of painting and sculpture from the group.

The Thebes suffered a financial blow in 2006 after a cut in its funding by the council. If you haven’t been there it’s worth making the effort, as it deserves its place as a fascinating footnote in the history of fine art in this country. The building was once the stables and coach-house of Lewes House, built in 1620 and owned around the turn of the 20th century by eccentric art collector Edward Warren. He used it to house seven Arab stallions, for the use of a succession of flamboyant houseguests, including the sculptor Auguste Rodin. Rodin produced a version - most say the best version - of his masterpiece The Kiss for Warren, who then lent it to the Town Hall. It was on display there for two years, until 1917, the year of Rodin’s death, when the Borough Council decided it to be too lewd and gave it back. It went into storage in the coach-house until Warren’s death, and was eventually sold to The Tate. It is now one of the London museum’s most prized items. The statue returned triumphantly, of course, to Lewes Town Hall for a couple of months in 1999, a year before its former home became the Thebes Gallery. AG