Inside the Soho House art collection

Since joining Soho House seven years ago, our Global Director of Art Kate Bryan has helped to amass a wide-reaching collection of work with which to populate the nooks, crannies and walls of our 41 Houses around the world. Bryan, who took over the curatorial role in 2016 from Francesca Gavin (and artist Jonathan Yeo before her), does not have a simple job. Each House hang must represent the city in which it resides; championing local and diverse voices in a way that feels both relevant and contemporary. Beautiful to look at, yes, but stimulating too. 

This is a big year for art at Soho House. We’re opening Houses in Mexico City and Portland later in 2023, and Bryan and her team are already building the collections for upcoming Houses in São Paulo, Glasgow and Manchester.

We sat down with Bryan to learn more about our forthcoming year in art, the future of the Soho House collection and what makes it so unique.

Top: Soho House’s Global Director of Art Kate Bryan on the fifth floor of Shoreditch House 
Above, from left: Bryan with ‘Split Nude’ (2022) by Hester Finch at Shoreditch House; artwork by Charlotte Mei

Tell us about the Soho House art collection, Kate. What sets it apart?
‘There’s nothing else quite like it. I describe it as a working horse, rather than a show pony. You have these extraordinary artworks that are full of meaning, but they’re not in a museum. You dance next to it, drink next to it, eat next to it. You can bring your baby and nurse it next to a painting. There are banks with bigger collections than us. And museums, of course, but all of our art is on display. None of our art is put in storage for any length of time. 

‘The works are acquired to genuinely support and reflect the art scene in the cities where we operate. I find that really exciting. I also love that it isn’t commercial. We acquire everything essentially through a barter system, which is kind of medieval. Yet we have one of the most exciting line-ups of contemporary artists going. I just love it. I love its contradictions.’  

What does the barter process look like?
‘The collection is built on La Colombe d’Or system. Soho House Founder Nick Jones and Jonathan Yeo (who founded the art collection with him) modelled it on this beautiful, historic hotel in the south of France where Picasso, for example, would turn up for two weeks, have a beautiful holiday, torment whatever mistress he was with, and leave a cracking painting on the reception to say thanks for his stay. That’s the principal way in which we acquire art. It’s really special to do something so old fashioned in a world that’s become so rampantly commercial.’

How do you source new pieces?
‘We do a lot of research. Every time I go to an art fair, I add artists I love into our database. When we have a House opening, we do long research trips. We read local art magazines, speak to museum directors, artists and collectors, and begin building a list of names. When we have around 200 or 300, we start looking at the diversity of the list and take people out. Maybe they make video art and we won’t be a great showcase, or maybe they make incredibly large sculptures, which again won’t really work in our Houses. We’re really careful to make sure that we’re representing the make-up of that city. Then we start approaching the artists.’

Art is subjective. How do you adapt your taste to suit that of our members? 
‘It’s something we talk about a lot as a team, because we all have different tastes. Ultimately, it’s not our collection and it shouldn’t look like a bunch of pictures that we want for ourselves. Effectively, we’re curating for a kind of mythical creature – thousands of members in one person. I’m trying to think about what everybody wants, but I’m also trying to disrupt expectations because I think the collection has to keep pushing forward. It can’t be predictable and it can’t be simply decorative. 

‘Sometimes I turn up to a House when we’ve finished installing and the designers – who are incredible, by the way – have put in some last-minute touches, like a beautiful lampshade that accidentally matches the artwork next to it, and I’m mock-horrified. I don’t want things to just be good-looking, I want them to stand on their own as artworks. I want people to notice them. Ultimately, no one’s ever going to like every piece that we put into a House, and that’s fine. We’re in a constant feedback loop with the members. We’re always listening to them, talking to them. And don’t forget that the artists and the art world are members as well. We can build a dialogue.’

Occasionally, there’s a theme to the collections in the Houses. How do you land on these themes?
‘It’s one of the great pleasures of my job to come up with these ideas. When we opened Soho House Paris, we decided not to have a collection that was 100% French, because what we kept hearing was that Paris wanted to once again be seen as an international centre for contemporary art. We responded by making a collection that was 100% paintings, since Paris is the home of painting in our collective imaginations. It was 70% French artists, including Laure Prouvost, and the rest international, such as Oscar Murillo, Flora Yukhnovich and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

‘For Brighton Beach House, it was really important to respond to the history of Brighton as a beacon city for the queer community. So, it’s got two collections: a line-up of local artists born, based or trained there; and then there’s the Brighton Beacon Collection, curated by Gemma Rolls-Bentley, which features LGBTQIA2S+ artists from around the world, including Catherine Opie, Sunil Gupta, Hal Fischer, Christina Quarles, David Hockney, and Maggi Hambling.’ 

Above, clockwise from top left: A Diedrick Brackens artwork at Soho House Holloway; Genevieve Gaignard wallpaper in Soho Warehouse in DTLA; a painting by Romina Bassu in the lobby of Soho House Rome

Has it been difficult to get the collection recognised as museum level?
‘These things happen slowly. In order to be a museum-level collection, you need to be showing in museums. We lend to them at the request of artists, of course, but we’re excited to be more strategic in the future. We have hundreds of museum-level artists. One of the things about the art world is that sometimes status and value comes through money. Because we don’t sell our art and don’t talk about it as a financial asset, we’re left out of that conversation, which is fine with me.

‘The collection has huge cultural value. We are so fortunate that so many museum-level artists want to be part of the Soho House collection. It’s lovely, because it means that artists trust us and love the Houses. I really like that the artists put in work that they want to see.

‘When an artist gives a piece of art to us, they eyeball it every time they come for a cup of coffee. It means we get good work because the artists know that they’re going to keep seeing it. Some of them are also slightly competing against the other artists in the collection. They want to give their best work. I love that the value judgement isn’t about money, it’s about respect for other artists.’

What is your current ambition for the art collection?
‘I’d love to do a book, but with more than 8,000 pieces in the collection, it’s a slow job. We’d like to find new ways to open the collection up to people. One of those, I hope, will be that we can start taking work out of the Houses for shows. It’s a journey we’ve started this year.’

Tell us about a few of your favourite pieces in the collection.
‘First, one of the most iconic pieces in the collection: Damien Hirst’s spray-painted “Shark” in Berlin. Nick Jones flew all of these artists out for the opening of Soho House Berlin. Damien turns up, takes a spray can and just does this shark on the hoof on the temporary exterior walls put up by the builders, then signs it. Nick has the foresight to cut it out from the hoardings and put it on the wall. Who else in the world gets a Damien Hirst that way? It’s pure Soho House. 

‘I’m always really proud when I see the Genevieve Gaignard wallpaper at Soho Warehouse in DTLA. I went to the loo when I visited the amazing Underground Museum and it was covered in this fabulous wallpaper. I got in touch and asked her to do something similar for us. She papered the entire stairwell going up to the roof and then did beautiful hand-applied appliqué on top of it. 

‘The fact that we’ve got a couple of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s works is remarkable. She is the greatest painter working in the UK at the moment, if you ask me. They were acquired by my predecessor, Fran Gavin, who’s an incredible curator. They’re these little grenades on the wall. I love the one at 180 House. 

‘Then there’s the Romina Bassu in the lobby of Soho House Rome. It’s a tragic-comedic painting of a woman who physically manifests the despair of the feminine psyche. I loved it so much that I bought myself one. I was like, “I have to have one of those.” I think everybody feels like that about her work, especially women.

‘Lastly, Deborah Roberts at Soho House Austin. Deborah is such an incredible artist who’s shot to fame in the last few years. When she replied to my Instagram message to say, “Hell yeah, I’d love to be in your collection,” I was like, “Yes, Deborah Roberts!” When you ask the most famous artists of a city and they say yes, you feel like you’re on a roll.’

Above: Bryan with Soho House’s Art Collections Assistant Manager Jack Lazenby, working on a refresh of the artworks at Shoreditch House; painting by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Are there any works you’d particularly like to acquire? 
‘I would love to get a Cindy Sherman. Jack [Lazenby, Art Collections Assistant Manager] would love to get a Cecilia Vicuña, as would I. Anakena [Paddon, Art Collections Manager] dreams of space for big sculpture. I think all of us have that kind of unicorn we’re trying to get – Sara [Terzi, Senior Art Collections Manager] and I joke we would die happy if we were able to acquire Toyin Ojih Odutola.’

What was your journey to becoming Soho House’s Global Director of Art? 
‘I’ve worked in the art world for a long time. I’ve been a dealer and I started my career at the British Museum. I began working principally in Renaissance art. Then I was living in Rome making TV shows. I went to a party, where Jonathan Yeo told me that Soho House was looking for a curator. I was like, “Maybe I’m leaving Rome, as that’s my dream job.” 

‘To be honest, I imagined it’d be quite cushy. I thought I’d be hanging around the clubs drinking flat whites a few days a week. In the interview, Nick and I concocted this grand vision for the collection, so I couldn’t resist. We’ve acquired around 6,000 works over seven years. It turned out not to be a cushy job. But I’m glad it’s not. It’s very exciting.’

We have many House openings coming up: Portland, Glasgow, Charleston, Mexico City, Manchester… What are your plans for these hangs? 
‘Mexico City, I think, will be our best House for art. I’m so excited about it. Mexico has such a historically important art scene. It’s staggering in terms of its depth and quality. Also, the House is beautiful. It’s a great building for art. We’re developing our most ambitious collection to date there with site-specific installations, including a huge textile installation in the reception by a duo called Celeste, which is like nothing we have ever done. 

‘We’re also busy working on São Paulo and Portland. They’re both great collections. Portland doesn’t have an internationally established contemporary art hub, but it has a vibrant and worthy scene, and it’s about giving that the attention it deserves. Like Nashville, there’s a chance to make a real commitment to the strong local identity by highlighting the creatives working there. We’re very excited about Manchester and Glasgow as well, because in Glasgow you’re just tripping over artists. It’s an easy one.’

Can you share any artist anecdotes? 
‘We played a game inspired by the Surrealist Paul Klee at 40 Greek Street. I asked 20 of the most important artists working and showing in London to make a drawing without allowing their pencil to leave the page. Tracey Emin did it, and Helen Marten, who had just won the Turner Prize. Jake and Dinos Chapman, Conrad Shawcross, Bharti Kher, Elmgreen and Dragset… What was fascinating was the creative ways they found to break the rules. Yinka Shonibare drew the Statue of Liberty, sent it over and then sent a follow-up email to say, “I’ve got no evidence that I did this in one go, should I do it again and video it?”

‘I just thought, “This is insane, it’s Yinka Shonibare!” Sometimes you worship these artists and then you realise that they’re also really sweet people. 

‘Then there was the time I fell off my chair in the office because Jenny Holzer replied to my email. I stood up, whooped and punched the air. Then, as I sat back down, my chair wasn’t there and I fell on the floor.’

We’re printing a series of art guides for the Houses. What was the motivation behind this?
‘Since I joined the company, I’ve wanted to get the collection in order so that the members can understand what we have. It’s their collection. We’ve redesigned our art maps and made them more user-friendly. We’re going to make them downloadable on the Soho House app and we’re also going to print some. It’s really exciting, because it shows our commitment to art and creates a portal to understand it further.’

What does your personal art collection look like? 
‘It looks like a poor man’s Soho House! I have a lot of the same artists obviously, but more affordable drawings and works on paper. I have treated myself to a couple of paintings in recent years, like the Romina Bassu and a killer painting by Helena Foster. I buy a lot of young graduates’ work. I have a small terraced house in Brixton and I must have about 150 artworks. It’s packed. It’s good for my daughter. I took down a piece this week and switched it for a new one. She noticed straight away. Maybe she’s getting an eye.’

What’s the best bit of member feedback you’ve ever received? 
‘Once I went to West Hollywood in the middle of the night and changed the entire hang. We reopened again in the morning. This guy came out of the lift on his phone – he visits every day. He looked up, turned around and looked back at the lift, and then looked around again. It was this huge physical reaction. He was like, “Oh. My. God.” out loud. I wish I had videoed it. He was really, really thrilled. 

‘My hope is that members look at the collection in their city and feel proud of it. Hopefully we provide a great shortcut if they want to know more about art, and hopefully it makes them feel really proud of the diversity and brilliance of the art scene in their city.’