CAL x SHC: Creating a ‘Cosmopolis’: Refugee Art Dealers in Twentieth-Century London

is pleased to invite you to a conversation on 

'Creating a ‘Cosmopolis’: Refugee Art Dealers in Twentieth-Century London' '

on Sunday, 29 June 2025 at 4pm (GMT)

The Society is delighted to collaborate with Classic Art London (www.classicartlondon.uk) to organise a conversation between Dr Helena Cuss and Dr Elizabeth Pergam on refugee art dealers in pre- and post-war London.

The Nazification of much of Europe from 1933-1945 prompted the flight of many art dealers who had supported the artistic avant-garde in their native countries. Britain and the USA became the main host countries, creating overlapping networks of émigré art dealers with pre-existing ties, whether of business, friendship, family or experience of a common trauma that spanned Continental Europe, Britain and North America. Of the fifty art dealers who moved to Britain, approximately half were involved in modern and contemporary art, considerably bolstering London’s hitherto limited opportunities for living artists. This conversation will introduce the colourful and diverse characters who animated the city’s modern art world from the 1930s onwards, as well as reflecting on the new commercial strategies and artistic interests with which they helped to transform London – dubbed a ‘cosmopolis’ in a 1964 exhibition at the Whitworth Gallery – into a global art capital.

Speakers' biographies: 

Helena Cuss is an independent art historian, curator and research consultant. She recently completed her PhD at Kingston University on the role of refugee art dealers in the internationalisation of the twentieth-century London art market, and in 2024 curated the exhibition Cosmopolis: The Impact of Refugee Art Dealers in London at Ben Uri Gallery. Prior to this, she was Assistant Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, where she contributed to exhibitions including David Hockney: Drawing from Life, Gainsborough’s Family Album, Pre-Raphaelite Sisters, Love Stories: Art,Passion & Tragedy, Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits and curated the display Everyday Icons: Collecting Popular Portraits.

Elizabeth A. Pergam is Co-Chair of the Society for the History of Collecting. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection of collecting, the market, and the transatlantic art trade.