The Abbey Arts Centre is located at 89 Park Road, New Barnet

New Barnet

New Barnet is an area within the London Borough of Barnet. It is a largely residential North London suburb, close to the M25, A1 and M1.-History:...

, Hertfordshire EN4 9QX, England.

It was originally owned by William Ohly, an art dealer who ran the Berkeley Galleries in Davies Street, London.

The Abbey attracted many expatriate Australian artists to its doors during the post war years 1947 - 1951. It became an early base of operations for artists, trying to gain a foothold in London's contemporary art industry.

Australian artists who stayed at the Abbey Art Center included: Noel Counihan

Noel Counihan

Noel Counihan was an Australian social realist painter.Counihan was born in Albert Park, then a working-class suburb of Melbourne. He attended Caulfield Grammar School in 1928...

, Leonard French

Leonard French

Leonard William French OBE is an Australian artist, known principally for major stained glass works.French was born in Brunswick, Victoria...

, James Gleeson

James Gleeson

James Timothy Gleeson was Australia's foremost artist. He was also a poet, critic, writer and curator. He played a significant role in the Australian art scene, including serving on the board of the National Gallery of Australia.-Early life:Gleeson was born in the Sydney district of Hornsby and he...

, Peter Graham

Peter Benjamin Graham

Peter Benjamin Graham , was an Australian visual artist, a master craftsman in a variety of printing techniques, and an art theorist. Peter saw no contradiction between abstract and figurative art...

, Douglas Green, Stacha Halpern

Stacha Halpern

Stanislav "Stacha" Halpern was a Polish Australian painter and sculptor. Following the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, Halpern emigrated to Australia. A decade later he became a naturalised Australian citizen. Based in Melbourne for much of his early career, Halpern painted bold semi-abstract...

, Grahame King

Grahame King

Grahame King was a prominent Australian printmaker. In the 1930s he helped pioneer the new art of chromo-photo-lithography and transformed developments in the colour advertising in the print industry. Grahame Lectured in Printmaking at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology from 1966-88...

, Robert Klippel

Robert Klippel

Robert Klippel AO was an Australian constructivist sculptor and teacher. He is often described in contemporary art literature as Australia's greatest sculptor. Throughout his career he produced some 1,300 pieces of sculpture and approximately 5,000 drawings.-Biography:Klippel was born in Potts...

 and Bernard William Smith

Bernard William Smith

Bernard William Smith was an Australian art historian, art critic and academic.-Biography:Smith was born in Balmain, Sydney to Charles Smith and Rose Anne Tierney on 3 October 1916. In 1941, he married his first wife, Kate Challis, who died in 1989. Smith married his second wife, Margaret Forster,...

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