Public Collections

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Gollon At Henley (Final Version)

This major work was commissioned by the award-winning River & Rowing Museum, Henley on Thames, and kindly sponsored by Beefeater and The American Friends of Rowing. It is now part of the Museum's permanent collection, alongside Raoul Dufy's 'Regatta At Henley', and works by Whistler, Trevelyan and Piper. Gollon researched the commission at Regatta 2007, and completed the work in early May 2008. The completed commissioned work was unveiled in the sell-out exhibition also entitled 'Gollon At Henley' at the Museum 10 May - 6 July 2008, where the silk-screen print studies, painting studies and research photographed were shown together. Chris Gollon chose to focus on the beauty and pain of sport, by depicting the losing team. See Commissions page for further details.

The work may also tour to museums in the USA, and be used to promote the 2012 Olympics. (details to follow...)
For further information, please contact the River & Rowing Museum or contact us.

A number of prints from the 4 editions of silk-screen print studies for this commission remain available, see Prints for Sale for details.

created on 2008-05-11 by iapgoll.

Fourteen Stations of the Cross for Church of St John on Bethnal Green, London

Stations of the Cross (VII): Jesus Falls A second Time

Stations of the Cross (X): Jesus Is Stripped Of His Garments

In 2000, Chris Gollon was commissioned to paint 14 Stations of the Cross for the Church of St John on Bethnal Green, a beautiful grade-one listed church designed by Sir John Soane and located next to the Museum of Childhood, London.

The paintings are site-specific, and vary in size.Widely featured in the national press, radio and television, this extraordinary series of paintings took Chris Gollon 8 years to complete. He took the unusual step of using his own son as the model for Jesus and his daughter as Mary. (See Commissions page for further details).

They will become both an added visitor attraction to this historic church, as well as an active aid to worship. They will be installed permanently in the Church by Good Friday 2009. For details on the Good Friday service and when the works may be viewed, please see the Exhibitions page.

created on 2008-07-27 by iapgoll.

'Einstein & The Jealous Monk'

This major work by Chris Gollon was purchased by Huddersfield Art Gallery in 2005. It was unveiled in autumn 2005 and shown alongside several studies for it, the latter borrowed back from collectors. In the same temporary exhibition it was juxtaposed with Epstein's bust of Einstein, also owned by the museum. A partial influence for Gollon's work were these lyrics from Bob Dylan's great ballad 'Desolation Row':

"Einstein dressed as Robin Hood/With his memories in a trunk/Passed this way an hour ago/With his friend The Jealous Monk/(...)You would not think to look at him/But he was famous long ago/For playing the electric violin/On Desolation Row..."

Chris Gollon's painting now forms part of the museum's permanent collection alongside major works by Sir Jacob Epstein, Walter Sickert, L.S. Lowry and Francis Bacon.

Huddersfield Art Gallery is a town-centre museum gallery, sharing building with Library and part of Kirklees Museums and Galleries Service; annual programme of temporary exhibitions including one-person and group shows, and historical shows of fine art, by regional and national artists; education and events programme;a collection of mainly twentieth century British art inc work by Auerbach, Bacon, Moore, Lowry, Epstein, Gilman, Sickert, Wadsworth, Nicholson etc, with some 18th and 19th century and European art.

created on 2006-10-03 by iapgoll.

'Big Fish Eat Little Fish'

Big Fish Eat Little Fish (triptych)

In spring 2001 Chris Gollon was invited to have a solo show by the award-winning River & Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames. The Gollon exhibition was one of a series of 3 solo shows that year (the others being John Piper and Stanley Spencer), celebrating artists who worked on or near the Thames. In discussions with the museum beforehand, Gollon was shown the marvellous collection the museum holds of stuffed fish in cases. He decided to make a triptych especially for the show, entitled 'Big Fish Eat Little Fish' (after Breughel's etchings). The left panel shows a burbot, an increasingly rare river fish whose diet includes frogs, hence the look of alarm in the amphibian's eyes. The centre panel holds a pike eating a brown trout, with lampreys below. Gollon has used one of his his close-up techniques to great effect in showing the trout's anguish. In the right panel we see a perch perhaps about to take a fisherman's bait, and below a zander.
With the help of the Victoria & Albert Museum, the museum purchased this triptych from the exhibition. It now hangs in the River & Rowing Museum's permanent collection alongside works by Raoul Dufy and Elizabeth Frink.

created on 2006-10-06 by iapgoll.