“The Oscars of the British art world”

The Philip Mould & Co. exhibition, ‘“Without Hands”: The Art of Sarah Biffin’, co-curated by our director, Emma Rutherford, has won the Critics’ Circle ‘Commercial Exhibition of the Year’ award!

Philip Mould & Co. is the first to receive a Critics’ Circle award for a commercial exhibition.

Philip Mould & Co. received the award on Friday 29th September at a ceremony hosted by the British Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery.

Sarah Biffin (1784-1850)’s remarkable life and work had been largely overlooked by historians until the exhibition co-curated by Emma and Ellie Smith, working closely with advisor Alison Lapper, contributors Essaka Joshua and Elle Shushan, and researcher Valeria Vallucci. The show, held at Philip Mould & Co.’s Pall Mall gallery from 1st November - 21 December 2022, was covered widely in the press, receiving a 5-star review from The Telegraph and featured in The Times, The Guardian, BBC Radio 4, Financial Times, Homes & Antiques magazine and The Art Newspaper.

A version of the exhibition opened at The Holburne Museum, Bath, on 29th September 2023 and will run until 14th January 2024. This constitutes the first major museum exhibition on the artist and Emma, Ellie and Alison will be giving a talk at The Holburne on 23rd November 2023. Emma and Ellie will also be speaking about the exhibition at the Understanding British Portraits annual seminar on 24th October 2023.

The Critics’ Circle Visual Arts Awards is described as “the Oscars of the British art world” and other winners included the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery.