This is a study on Grosvenor Gallery which appeared in late 19th century London. Grosvenor Gallery is a commercial gallery established by the Baronet Sir Coutts Lindsay, and it received attention for its luxurious exterior which resembled a nobl... This is a study on Grosvenor Gallery which appeared in late 19th century London. Grosvenor Gallery is a commercial gallery established by the Baronet Sir Coutts Lindsay, and it received attention for its luxurious exterior which resembled a nobleman’s castle. This places Grosvenor Gallery within the leisure culture which strived for gentrification in order to examine the ‘nobilization’ strategy this gallery aspired to more clearly. The reasons that viewing art exhibitions became popularized after the mid-19th century in London were population increase, the development of visual culture, and the establishment of various exhibition institutions. In addition, the efforts of artists who pursued the popularization of art, the passion of the masses who became important consumers of art, and the goal of the state to realize standardization of culture all played a big role. In this period, appreciating works of art, which originally was a past-time of the nobility, took root as a popular leisure activity for the masses, the culture of the nobility was in popular fashion because of the curiosity of the masses on the lifestyle of the nobility. With the spread of high-class culture, visiting galleries became an important leisure activity for the citizens of London. Especially, the commercial galleries of London began to develop from the mid-19th century. As most commercial galleries relied on entrance fees for their operations, they had the strategic characteristic to plan groundbreaking exhibitions that would capture the attention of visitors who were highly interested in new types of stimulation and the latest trends. Grosvenor Gallery, which appeared in a luxury shopping district of London, employed a nobilization strategy to become an eye-catching consumer good. Utilizing the fact that this gallery was the only commercial gallery founded and operated by nobility in London in the 1870-80s, it carried on the tradition of town house galleries of the nobility. From the early 19th century, London nobility opened their private galleries to the public free of charge in order to display their spirit of public duty, which was considered a noble attribute, and their prosperous life style. Grosvenor Gallery was named after Earl of Grosvenor who was popular through the opening of his beautiful town house gallery to the public. And it had an operating structure that favored being considerate to exhibitors and visitors over monetary gain and imitated town houses of the nobility by implemented luxurious gallery exterior following the Italian Renaissance style. The nobilization strategy of Grosvenor Gallery was also included in its exhibits. At the opening exhibition which announces the identity of a gallery, Sir Lindsay attracted large participation from amateur artists from the noble classes whose art works had low market value, and by leaving selection of entries solely with the exhibitors showed the gallery’s consideration for exhibitors over owner's gain. In addition, the exhibit space paraded noble beauty through the exhibit walls were embellished in clear red to imitate the gallery which owned Earl of Grosvenor and the exhibit structure with entries placed at a leisurely distance from each other. Through these efforts, he was able to raise appreciating art into a more comprehensive experience, so to speak, experiencing the cultural space of the nobility. Similar aspects of nobilization can be found in the regular exhibitions that continued to be held at the gallery. The large scale loan exhibitions held as the winter exhibitions showed that this commercial gallery held the public value of educating the masses. The invitation from Sir Lindsay that was distributed to the exhibitors of the summer exhibitions was an invitation that adapted the invitations required by visitors to town house galleries of the nobility to fit the characteristics of a commercial gallery. And it showed the noble sense of entitlement held by Sir Lindsay. Grosvenor Gallery was a commercial gallery that employed a nobilization strategy by reflecting the popular trend of focusing on cultural experiences of the nobility through the application of the tradition of the town house galleries of the nobility, which aimed to show the public spirit of placing the value of the masses over personal wellbeing as well as the differentiated lifestyle as a nobility's. These values were reflected in the gallery’s operations, plans and exhibitions. Grosvenor Gallery, which gained popularity as a luxurious commercial gallery, eventually closed its doors due to financial difficulties 14 years after its establishment. This shows the limitations a commercial gallery, which is established for the purpose of owner's gain, faces when adopting a nobilization strategy. This expands on existing research, which emphasized the uniqueness of the Grosvenor Gallery, by focusing on the fact that commercial galleries are a social institution which communicates with the desires of the visitors, and therefore investigated the method that Grosvenor Gallery employed to meet the public desire to experience the culture of the nobility. This is meaningful as it identified that the 19th century commercial galleries and commercial exhibitions, which have been not mainstream in history, were a pluralistic product related to the various experiences of the people of that time.
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