One of two bequests to two museums by Stuart H J Johnson through the Art Fund in 1958.
Estate of S.H.J. Johnson
Among a host of Art Funded works at the museum, Walter Richard Sickert's oil painting Brighton Pierrots (1915), part of the Tate Collection, reflects well the local and international significance of the gallery. Sickert watched the eponymous theatre troupe on the Brighton seafront every evening for five weeks, making drawings in preparation for the final work.
The sense of loneliness which pervades the painting is characteristic of Sickert's late work. The effect is amplified by the presence of empty deckchairs, reminding us that the scene was captured during World War I.
Part of the Romano-British collection, the bronze Statuette of a stag dates from the first century AD. A rare piece, it was discovered just north of Brighton by an enthusiast with a metal detector. An Art Fund grant of £7,644 helped to save the sculpture from being exported.
