Group and Solo Exhibitions
Gifted to cousin Bunty: Young woman (1950s)
Audrey always wanted people to see her work, from the paintings Bede Grammar School proudly displayed, to her final (so far as we have been able to discover) self-organised exhibition in 2002. Throughout her life, she submitted to shows and later organised her own. She gifted art to friends and family. When her cousin married and moved to America, Audrey gave her a painting to remind her of home.
Many of Audrey’s artworks are housed at Wellcome and may be viewed there by appointment.
Group
Dorothy (1950s)
As a student at the Royal Academy Schools, Audrey had access to their regular art shows and her work was accepted at the Summer Exhibitions of 1957 and 1958. She also won a bursary and a prize for a painting in oils. After leaving the R.A., Audrey contributed more than 50 pieces in shows organised at the Mall Galleries. She sold several of them.
Solo
Poster for ‘Fireworks’ Exhibition (1989)
Research by Wellcome Foundation has identified six solo exhibitions which Audrey organised to bring her work to public attention between 1986 and 2002. The exhibition organised by Welcome Collection in 2026 has recreated the six original shows as accurately as possible using materials from the Audrey Amiss archive. There are indications that Audrey may have organised more solo exhibitions, so research continues.
The Surviving Exhibitions*
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
10-31 May 1985: ‘Art can damage your health’ (Group Exhibition showing the Malaga Photographs), People’s Gallery
2-13 July 1986: ‘Annual Exhibition 1986’, Royal Society of British Artists
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
5-23 September 1986: ‘An exhibition of drawings from the 1960s by Audrey Amiss’, Gallery 22
2-14 January 1989: ‘Drawings and Watercolours from the 1960s’, Dance Attic Studios
13 February - 5 March 1989: ‘Audrey Amiss ‘Fireworks’ A Protest Exhibition’, The Wren, St James Church, Piccadilly
14-19 September 1998: ‘An exhibition of miscellaneous works on paper by Audrey Amiss’, Gallery Forty-Seven
14-19 February 2000: ‘An exhibition of recent works by Audrey Amiss’, Gallery Forty-Seven
22 July - 2 August 2002: ‘Drawings from a Locked Ward (‘The Snakepit’) by Audrey Amiss’, Gallery Forty-Seven
* These are the Exhibitions known about currently, according to research by Wellcome in its archive.