Australian artists in London: the early 1960s

During the early 1960s, an expatriate community of Australian artists lived and exhibited in London. They formed a loose-knit group of friends and associates centred on the Highgate/Hampstead and Notting Hill Gate districts of London. During a period that saw Australian contemporary painting reach its height of popularity in Britain, artists mingled with a varied mix of London society, meeting at parties, drinking with fellow artists in pubs and receiving invitations to aristocratic soirees in Mayfair. Bryan Robertson championed Australian art at the Whitechapel Gallery, whilst Sir Kenneth Clark offered hospitality to artists at his home at Saltwood Castle. Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan chose to remain in London but by the mid 1960s many artists began to return home to further their careers in Australia