About Portal Painters

!Rabbit ! Vessel of Tears Hart

Portal Gallery opened in 1959, its founders Eric Lister and Lionel Levy had strong ideas about the kind of painting

they wanted to exhibit and the gallery, located at that time in London's Mayfair, quickly became known for self

taught 'naive' painters. Over the years the gallery's unpretentious attitude and its concentration on finding artists

with immense technical skill has made Portal internationally famous. Skilled craftsmanship combined with the

wonderful imaginations of its artists has made Portal a leading specialist in paintings which have a touch of magic

realism and occasional flashes of humour and the surreal.

Portal Painters now show regularly at Art Fairs and have three or four shows during the year in central London.

Beryl Cook (1926 - 2008 ) one of the gallery's most celebrated artists and who started painting in her forties

showed with Portal for her entire career, with eighteen exhibitions. The former seaside landlady and her colourful

world of large ladies, male strippers, drag acts, bars and night clubs have changed the way we look at the world,

we see 'Beryl Cook moments' daily.

Beryl Cook's paintings are bought by collectors worldwide, and three of her major works were on show at Tate Britain

in their exhibition 'Rude Britannia : British Comic Art' in 2010.

Portal Painters represents some twenty artists. Some from Scotland such as John Byrne, Whyn Lewis,James McNaught,

Heather Nevay and Peter Thomson all graduated from Glasgow Art School and have their own very singular visions.

Though mostly from the UK, Portal represents Isabelle Rozot who is from Paris.

Many people buy their first painting from Portal reassured by the welcoming atmosphere, modest prices and fascinating

diversity of work on display. Portal Painters show time and time again that contemporary painting can be accessible,

enjoyable and of outstanding quality.

Portal celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 2009 with ' A Singular Vision' published by Prestel, it is a fascinating and

comprehensive survey of Portal Painters and their extraordinary talents. ( see publications .)