Noel ODDY

Noel ODDY  (1927 - 2011)

Noel Oddy, art dealer and gallery owner died Thursday 3rd March, aged 83.

He retired from Highgate Fine Art in 2008 having established and run the gallery for 25 years. Noel was a strong personality in the Village and his idiosyncratic style and character will be missed.

After a successful career in the City, Noel pursued his passion for art, firstly as a collector, then as a gallery owner. He bought The Phoenix Art Gallery in Lavenham, Suffolk, in 1977 turning it into a highly acclaimed gallery that occupied the forefront of the East Anglian art world for the next 15 years. Several of the artists he promoted, such as Charles Cundall, John Bratby, Lawrence Gowing, Edward Middleditch, Roger de Grey and Frederick Gore, were eminent Royal Academicians of their day.

Noel’s passion for East Anglia grew and the impact of that landscape had an enormous influence on his appreciation of landscape art. In 1988, returning to London, Noel acquired the current premises at 26 Highgate High Street, transposing the Phoenix Gallery to an already established art gallery and picture framing business in Highgate village. Noel’s passion for serious art ensured that it prospered and he continued to encourage young and new artists. The gallery became known as a hidden gem and Noel its eccentric and charismatic face. He subsequently named it Highgate Fine Art.

Noel was always keen to promote the gallery as somewhere that would inspire and give joy to the visitor, hence it maintained a wonderful diversity of style – figurative and abstract – and subject matter, without ever compromising on quality. Not content to simply promote the artists he favoured in Highgate, Noel also established himself during the 1990s as the Curator of Exhibitions at the iconic Patisserie Valerie, opposite the Brompton Oratory, the City and Guilds of London Art School at Smith Galleries, Covent Garden, the up and coming Butlers Wharf and Kingston University, whilst expanding his knowledge, appreciation and understanding of the ‘modern day’ artist.

His thirst for information and vigilant eye on trends and movements in the art world, meant that he always had words of advice, insights and theories which he readily shared with his artists and clients. It often meant that the gallery remained lit up, well into the night, as he surfed the internet highway gleaning information. The gallery became a haven for stimulating conversation and ever-changing walls.

Laurie MacLaren 2011

Paintings