The South London Gallery began with the South London Working Men’s College, founded by William Rossiter in 1868, which grew into a free library and art gallery. In 1891 the South London Fine Art Gallery, as it was then called, opened on Peckham Road. Its council, including Frederic Leighton, Edward Burne-Jones, G. F. Watts and Walter Crane, helped raise funds for the site.
A century on Peckham Road
In 1896 the gallery passed to the Vestry of Camberwell, and later to the boroughs of Camberwell and Southwark. It served as government offices during both world wars, and in 1941 an air raid badly damaged its lecture hall and library. It reopened in 1949.
David Thorp became director in 1992 and turned the programme towards contemporary art, showing Gilbert & George, Anselm Kiefer and Sherrie Levine alongside Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk. Margot Heller took over in 2001. In 2003 the gallery left Southwark Council to become an independent charitable trust.
New spaces
In 2010 6a architects turned the derelict house next door into the Matsudaira Wing, with galleries, a bookshop, a café and an events space opening onto the Fox Garden by Fraser & Morris. Gabriel Orozco designed a second garden beside the Clore Studio in 2016.
The former Peckham Road Fire Station, built in 1867 and designed by Edward Cresy Junior, is a Grade II listed building and the earliest surviving fire station built after the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was formed. Donated to the gallery in 2014 and restored in a design led by 6a architects, it opened to the public in September 2018.
Monika Sosnowska: Weight of Matter runs until 22 November 2026. Kang Seung Lee: Weeds of Cultivation follows from 11 December. Admission is free.
Location: Peckham, London, United Kingdom
Address: 65 Peckham Road, London SE5 8UH, United Kingdom
Website: southlondongallery.org
Instagram: @southlondongallery
