Anglo-French Art Centre 1945 - 1951

The Anglo-French Art Centre

The centre flourished in Elm Tree Road from 1945 to 1951. It was set up by painter Alfred Rozelaar Green (1918 – 2013) as a visionary art school that brought famous French sculptors and painters, such as Fernand Leger and Germaine Richier to teach in London and revolutionise British art by keeping the avant-garde alive.

Green had been born in London but studied in Paris in 1938, fleeing the Nazis when war broke out. When the war ended, he used an inheritance to finance a 35 year lease on 29 Elm Tree Road, the site of the former St John’s Wood Art School.

The centre maintained the old St John’s Wood Art School’s practice of inviting famous artists of the day to teach, to criticise the students’ work and to present prizes.  These included new British artists like Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Jacob Epstein, Ronald Searle, Victor Pasmore and Graham Sutherland.

The famous Saturday night parties included Paolozzi, John Minton, John Craxton, Keith Vaughan and Louis Macneice. However by 1951 the inheritance had been spent and the Arts Council withdrew its grant so the centre closed and Alfred went to live in France  until his death in 2013.