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Watts and America

Watts was the first living artist to have a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. His solo exhibition, opened in 1884, attracted over half a million people and had to be extended for a further six months due to public demand. In gratitude for the show, Watts was elected by the Metropolitan Museum’s trustees as an Honorary Life Fellow. In turn, Watts gave his allegorical painting Love and Life to the American people. This gift was aimed at starting the first national art collection. The picture aroused great controversy between the Congress and the Metropolitan Museum about where it should be displayed. It was temporarily installed in the White House but objections by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union of the United States, who were horrified by its nudity, led to it being moved to the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington. Later, President Theodore Roosevelt had it returned to the White House, again causing controversy at its loss of display to the nation. A later President consigned the painting to the Smithsonian Institution, from where it was eventually sold in 1987.

Your Support

We welcome the generous support of our American friends including Christopher Forbes and The Prince of Wales Foundation. The Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation has generously pledged over $1m to help secure this quintessentially English national gem.
Watts Gallery can receive gifts in the United States through www.cafamerica.org or by writing to:

CAF America, King Street Station, 1800 Diagonal Road,
Suite 150, Alexandria, VA 22314-2840

or call (1) (703) 549 8931.

Please contact:

Perdita Hunt, Director of Watts Gallery
Down Lane, Compton, Nr. Guildford,
Surrey GU3 1DQ, U.K.

0044 1483 810235
0044 777181 8681
director@wattsgallery.org.uk

Watts Gallery Trustee in the USA, Christopher Forbes