About the gallery
W·S Fine Art Limited was established in 2000 and has been trading since Spring 2005. The gallery moved in December 2007 from New Bond Street to 27 Dover Street. The gallery's elegant rooms occupy the first floor of the building. We specialise in eighteenth and nineteenth century British and Irish Art. Early watercolours and drawings are our main bias, but we also deal in oil paintings by artists of this period. Constable, Gainsborough and J. M. W. Turner are artists regularly featured in our exhibitions. Works by their contemporaries are always in stock. We have recently extended our holdings to include some works by twentieth century artists, among which are beautiful examples by Graham Sutherland and Percy Wyndham Lewis. On occasion we show contemporary watercolours.
About us
C. Thomas Toppin
Chairman
'Tom' Toppin is a US attorney, a veteran Anglophile and a collector of works of art. In the mid 1960s he inherited a group of pictures. It was this that awakened his interest in British art and led him to make his first purchase, a watercolour by David Cox. He has a particular love of the work of J.R. Cozens, Turner and Bonington. W·S Fine Art, which grew out of his passion for English drawings and watercolours, was established in 2000 in partnership with Andrew Wyld and others. Tom now visits London, and the Gallery, five or six times a year.
Andrew Wyld
Managing Director (020 7290 1542)
Andrew Wyld has been an art dealer for over 30 years. Andrew specialises in early watercolours and drawings and is highly regarded for his expertise in this field. Over the years he has been involved in the sale of many celebrated watercolours by J. M. W. Turner and William Blake amongst others. Before establishing W·S Fine Art Limited, Andrew was Director of the Watercolour Department at Agnew's.
Dr Susan Sloman
Researcher (020 7290 1543)
Susan Sloman is a specialist in English eighteenth century art, including portraiture. She was Keeper of Collections at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath for ten years. Her book Gainsborough in Bath was published by Yale University Press in 2002, and she has written numerous articles in the Burlington Magazine and elsewhere. She recently contributed an essay to Sensation and Sensibility edited by Ann Bermingham (2005), the book published to coincide with an exhibition studying Gainsborough's Cottage Door subjects. She first worked with Andrew Wyld in the 1970s and returned to join him in 1999.
Sarah Taft
Gallery Manager (020 7290 1541)
Before joining W·S Fine Art Limited, Sarah worked in the Registrars department of the Tate Gallery for over eight years. As Prints and Drawings Registrar at Tate Britain she was responsible for the management of the works on paper collection, including British watercolours, drawings and prints from the 18th century to the present day. For five years she was in charge of the Tate’s Prints and Drawings Study Room which is home to the Turner Bequest; during this time she contributed essays to a number of catalogues and co-curated exhibitions on the works of J. M. W. Turner.
