The Derby Sketching Club is a members' club now meeting in Littleover

Littleover

Littleover is a large suburb of Derby, England situated between Rose Hill, Normanton, Sunny Hill, South Derbyshire and Mickleover about three miles south west of Derby city centre.-History:The history of the name of Littleover is simple...

, Derby, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was founded in 1887, and still meets today, providing members with facilities so they and others can work and share their interest in painting and sketching. Early members included F. Booty, Alfred John Keene

Alfred John Keene

Alfred John Keene was a British watercolour artist working in Derby.-Biography:Keene was the fourth son of photographer Richard Keene who published the Derby Telegraph and brother of watercolourist William Caxton Keene and photographer Charles Barrow Keene...

, William Swindell, George Thompson, Charles Terry and Frank Timms

History

In 1887, a group of young men held a meeting at the County hotel in Derby and founded the Derby Sketching Club with the aim of providing a place where they and others could work and share their interest in painting and sketching, a place to share their art. They set an annual fee of two shillings and sixpence. The first exhibition of their work was held in January 1889, at the Athenaeum Rooms.

In 1922, the Derby Ladies Art Group was formed and it was only in 1951, for the Festival of Britain, that the two groups first held a joint Exhibition. They finally merged in 1966.

The art collector Alfred E. Goodey

Alfred E. Goodey

Alfred E. Goodey was a collector of paintings, prints and photographs, especially those connected with the English Midlands town of Derby.-Biography:...

. amassed the work of Derby Sketching Club members, and in the 1940s presented it to Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Derby Museum and Art Gallery was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collection includes a whole gallery displaying the paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby; there is also a large...

.

Current activities

There are regular sessions for members- for lifedrawing, and portrait painting and still life. There are guest lectures and exhibitions and members use the website to promote their work.