About

Our aim is to provide emerging artists with a space beyond the galleries in which their work is usually seen, and to provide ourselves and our clients with the opportunity to engage with the conversations that are being had within contemporary art practice. Art is a praxis for vital conversations at the forefront of social, cultural, and political change, and it is important that we as a responsible business are engaging with those conversations.

Being a small part of the community of artists, galleries, and art programmes is a privilege. We are proud to have had a long-standing relationship supporting Art Night festival, and have recently sponsored online curatotial and education platform Black Blossoms' short course The Epic and the Everyday: Kerry James Marshall's Black Narratives. We continue to actively seek opportunities to support the arts in our local communities.

History of the Collection

Simmons & Simmons has been collecting modern and contemporary art since the 1980s, led by Stuart Evans, a former Partner at the firm. Initially Stuart concentrated on purchasing small paintings and drawings by British artists of the Modern period, (Bell, Bomberg, Fry, Redpath, etc) and prints by established contemporary British and American artists (Hodgkin, Kossoff, Lichtenstein, Oldenberg, etc).

By engaging deeply with the work of London-based emerging contemporary artists, in 1993 the focus of the collection shifted to focus on acquiring the works of the contemporary artists who were generating excitement within the art world and beyond. In doing so, the firm assembled a collection which reflected the energy, commitment and diversity of the emerging Young British Artists he had seen around London. To this day, we continue to collect the work of emerging, early career artists.

The help of now-renowned art dealer, Thomas Dane, was enlisted to guide the growth of collection. With Thomas Dane’s help, Simmons acquired works of art which both challenged traditional modes of corporate collecting, whilst also taking care to ensure that the works suited a living and breathing working environment.

The way in which a law firm is governed required that the art collection operated within some form of consensus. A number of our colleagues have strong ideas on what art is (or is not). Numerous works within the collection challenge those ideas, and present challenging ideas in of themselves (Gary Hume’s Ugly Self-Portrait Series has elicited rather poetic objections from our colleagues). Nevertheless, the strong reactions mean that we are doing something right. Whatever art may be, it should at least make one think, and in that Simmons has succeeded in creating a challenging and thought-provoking collection. The working environment at Simmons has undoubtedly been enhanced by the conversations that take place in front of Rachel Whiteread’s Demolished, or  Rachel Jones’, Sisters.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the collection is the development of relationships with the artists from whom we have acquired works. Once an artist enters our collection it is a joy to follow the course of their career. We love to host artists talks in order to give our colleagues insight into the artist’s practice.

Currently, the art collection is managed by Hannah Barton and Sarah Haylett who aim to challenge traditional modes of corporate collecting, whilst also taking care to ensure that the works thrive in a living, breathing working environment. Hannahis an Supervising Associate in the Simmons & Simmons Disputes and Investigations Team, based in London. Hannah studied History and History of Art at both the University of Oxford and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Sarahis an archivist and contemporary art researcher. She joined Simmons & Simmons in April 2022 having previously undertaken roles at the Donald Rodney Estate, Tate and managing private art collections. She has a PhD from Tate and UCL. To this day the collection remains true to its original objective of supporting early career artists, operating in the communities that we do, by acquiring significant work.