£10m revival of Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury chronicled in book of stunning images by photographer Anne-Katrin Purkiss
Visitor numbers at a famous artist’s Suffolk birthplace have doubled since the completion of a £10 million project to transform it into an art and heritage centre fit for the 21st century.
The house where Thomas Gainsborough grew up in the 18th century has been renovated and linked to a new building containing state of the art galleries.
Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury reopened in November, and now a new journey begins ... to secure its place on the national and international art stage.
With a programme of high profile exhibitions planned, director Mark Bills and his team are looking to the future.
“It has been a big project, one is so involved in it and you don’t get a break, and then it’s straight into running a gallery,” he said.
“We have to take stock and say where do we want to be in five years time. We want to be on the national and international art map. We need to get that profile.”
Meanwhile, the story of the redevelopment project Reviving an Artist’s Birthplace has been put together in a book of stunning images by photographer Anne-Katrin Purkiss.
She was employed to produce a record of the project from start to finish, and more than 100 pages of photographs give a unique behind the scenes view of the work that went into the transformation.
They range from the down-at-heel look of parts of the old house ten years ago, to the dramatic moment a pre-constructed staircase was lowered into the new building by a crane.
The book, which at the moment is a limited edition of 600 copies, is on sale to raise funds in the Gainsborough’s House shop, priced at £9.50, but it was primarily produced as a thank you gift.
“The idea was always to produce a book as a record and a souvenir and for all the people who supported us, something we could give to our many supporters,” said Mark
Another visual record of the project – this time as seen through an artist’s eye – is on show from next week in an exhibition of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture and mixed media pieces by artist in residence Anna Hennings.
Before the House closed at the start of the three-year project its visitor numbers for November to January were 4,400, with 25,000 people coming through the doors in a year.
In the same period since the reopening there were 8,900 visitors – on track for 50,000 this year.
The number of people joining the Friends of Gainsborough’s House has also shot up beyond expectations, from 690 in March last year, to 1,132 in January.
“We thought we could get more, but every day I sign more letters to welcome new Friends,” said Mark. “I think people see what good value it is.”
Becoming a Friend costs £45 a year, and gives unlimited free entry, including to the changing exhibitions of which there are about nine a year. It is also possible to pay extra to upgrade and get more benefits.
Reopening after the revival project was an historic event for the House which has been a museum and gallery for more than 60 years.
“I think it has been the most important moment in our history since it opened,” said Mark, who has been director since 2013.
“When I arrived it was on a downward spiral, it was cutting costs and had lost its director, and was in a bad state financially.
“Now it’s on an upward spiral, but we have got to maintain it. We have to work hard at getting more exhibitions and events.”
Refurbishing the 17th century house where Gainsborough, whose portraits include some of the world’s most famous paintings, was born in 1727 has been a crucial part of the project.
But now visitors walk through time from the exposed beams and period features of the Grade I-listed building to the clean-cut 21st century lines of the galleries and function rooms of the new extension.
The new building is on the site of the former Sudbury labour exchange, which was bought then gifted to the House by Babergh District Council.
Gainsborough’s House closed in October 2019 for work to start but then came the battle to keep it on track throughout the Covid pandemic.
The project was paid for by grants including £5.3 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, private donations, and fundraising.
“We have doubled our staff now and employ 22 people, and we probably need more to run events,” said Mark. “All the people who are employed have a sense of pride in working here.
“The opening was great when we could bring people in and show them what had been achieved. It was great to see people really liking it.
“You live with something for a very long time then you put it out there and see what people think. When you’re with people you see it through their eyes. It was a very positive experience.”
The project was not without its heart-in-the-mouth moments, like when it looked as if the old labour exchange site – crucial for the extension – might be sold to someone else.
“You never know with these things. Nothing is certain in life. You’re not sure until a certain point it’s definitely going to happen and that’s a reasonably long way down the line,” he said.
Mark found it helpful that he previously worked on a revival project at the Watts Gallery, in Surrey, dedicated to the legacy of 19th century artist George Frederic Watts.
“But I also believe you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” he says. “Gainsborough’s House had to have gold at its centre.
“It was set within this wonderful landscape that Gainsborough knew and loved and all these things that made him an artist you can see from Gainsborough’s House.
“My job was to bring that out. Not to create something new but to bring out what was there ... what’s really special about Sudbury and Gainsborough.
“If you do that people love it. Gainsborough’s art still lives for this generation. Our job is to bring that out and engage. Bring out the magic that’s in the house.
“If the place had no interest or merit no matter how many swanky architects you have or how much money it’s not going to go anywhere.
“We had a great team, great architecture, and great supporters who gave and gave, and made people feel they were part of that journey with us.
“If I look out my office window now there are lots of people around. The cafe has lots of people in it and some are sitting outside.
“And it’s a quiet time of year. It’s wonderful to go into the gallery and house and see all these people around.
“I hope all this will have a positive impact on the town, I think it’s encouraging more people to come to Sudbury but numbers are difficult to quantify.
“We are doing a survey to get as much information as we can.
“There is a slight sadness at the end of the project in many ways. Projects are good fun and you are all working together.
“Now we have created the infrastructure we have to get that progression, reach out and draw people in.
“If there wasn’t local support it wouldn’t have happened but now we also need to look nationally and internationally. It’s like starting at the beginning again and it’s a learning thing, like the beginning of another project really.”
He added that one disappointment had been the cancellation of a planned exhibition of pictures from Russia’s world-famous Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts – forced by the war in Ukraine.
It was an exchange arrangement after Gainsborough’s House loaned works from its collection to the Moscow gallery, which Russian art-lovers had queued around the block to see.
From the start the transformation project has had numerous high profile backers, including Suffolk-born artist Maggi Hambling who later this year will show her work at Gainsborough’s House for the first time.
Another enthusiastic supporter is comedian, writer, actor and presenter – and Suffolk resident – Griff Rhys Jones, who visited recently.
Three new exhibitions including Gainsborough and the Legacy of Landscape, with masterpieces on loan from Woburn Abbey, will open on March 11 and run until June.
In November, a major Cedric Morris show opens in the main gallery. At the same time the first woman president of the Royal Academy of Arts, printmaker Rebecca Salter, will also be exhibiting her work.
Her Royal Academy role also traditionally brings with it the job of president of Gainsborough’s House.
In her foreword to the book of photographs, she says: “The sensitive renovation of Gainsborough’s House invites us to linger in the rooms Gainsborough knew so well and imagine for ourselves how they went on to shape him as a man and an artist.
“Our endless curiosity about the artistic journey is nourished by the opportunity to spend time in a house which resonates with the often overlooked traces of a life passed, while the programme in the new wing will also offer chances to witness the making of a 21st century artistic career.
“In this conversation between the old and the new, the legacy of Sudbury’s most famous son will live on for generations.”
Gainsborough’s House is open daily from 10am to 5pm. New exhibitions are currently being installed and can be seen from March 11.
