Patrons:

Lady Armstrong of Ilminster; William Loschert; Pemberton Greenish; Sloane Stanley Estate; John Thacker. 

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Hon Patrons:

Dr. Stephen Bury, Frick Collection, New York; Dr. Diana Greenwold, Freer Gallery, Washington; Professor Margaret MacDonald, Glasgow University; Sir Charles Saumarez Smith, London; Gordon Cooke, Bath.

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Society Committee Members:

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​Bill Toomey Chair and Hon Secretary)

Bill spent his career in the Corporate Banking Team of Allied Irish Bank, based in London, dealing with new business development and relationship management for many of the Bank's top customers and owner managed businesses. He has always been interested in art and fascinated by the way artists influenced each other. Their shared environment fostered a dynamic exchange that enriched both art and literature, none more so than the artists who lived in London and Tite Street. He is particularly drawn to how Whistler and Wilde, along with other contemporaries, navigated the complex interplay of aesthetics, society, and personal identity.

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Joan Harper (Membership Secretary)

A native of Lowell, Massachusetts, Joan was a financial writer and communications executive in New York for over 30 years. Returning to her roots in creative writing in 2017, she published a cookbook/memoir: Cooking with Adrienne, A Story of Friendship and Food. She has co-written two books with the Chairman of the American nonprofit, Bpeace: Women Forward: The 2020 Playbook and Moving Women Forward: The 2019 Playbook. She is currently ghostwriting a book with the first female Minister of Education for Afghanistan during the Republic.

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​Ann Toomey (Treasurer)

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Victoria Bennett

Since 2010, as Director of Art in the Capital and an independent art historian, Victoria has conducted tours of London museums, galleries and new exhibitions on a termly basis. 

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Stephen Bartley (Archivist)

Stephen has a thorough knowledge of 19th and 20th Century British Art and has been a fine art auctioneer, gallerist, writer. He was a founder Trustee/Committee member of the Whistler Society and is currently the Hon. Archivist of the Chelsea Arts Club. Stephen has been a longstanding, active presence in Chelsea as a founding Trustee of the Chelsea Arts Club Trust, as well as being a former Trustee of Heatherley School of Fine Art. 

 

Michael Biscoe

Michael practiced as an architect in the City of London for forty years. He is a past master of the Leathersellers Company (2003/4) and was chairman of the committee which oversaw the redevelopment of their estate in the City including the construction of a new livery hall. He is now a writer and has recently published 'Something to Write Home About', an historical novel set in Cyprus in the 1950s.

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​Sandra Higgins

As a former Vice-Chairman of the Chelsea Arts Club and founder member of the Whistler Society, Sandra Higgins has valuable experience of the art world. Through her company, Sandra Higgins Art, she works between London and Bath, where she is also the Arts Curator for The Drawing Rooms.

 

Martin Riley 

Martin set up a gallery in 1981 working with contemporary painters, printmakers and sculptors and exhibited widely in the U.K. and Europe. In 2013, he completed a Diploma in Art History at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, specialising in the work of Whistler and his contemporaries. He spends his time in Gloucestershire and Perthshire and is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club.

 

Hallie Swanson

Hallie has long been involved in the local community. Her love of Whistler began when she lived at 101 Cheyne Walk and realised it was one of his homes. She is currently Editor of the Cheyne Walk Trust newsletter and for more than 20 years has edited the parish magazine of Chelsea Old Church.

 

Emeritus Professor Daniel Sutherland
Daniel Sutherland is an acclaimed writer and Whistler scholar. He is the author of Whistler: A Life for Art’s Sake, and co-author with Dr. Georgia Toutziari of Whistler’s Mother: Portrait of an Extraordinary Life. Daniel and Georgia are also the co-editors of the Whistler Society Journal, The Ten 'Clock. He is currently working on a new book exploring the influence of James Whistler in the expanded field of history and culture.

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