Catalogue 8.0: Fear Gives Wings to Courage is out now

‘It is sacrosanct that art remain truly free, and we can travel with it – or let others do so.’
– Dean Mayo Davies, Editor-in-Chief, CATALOGUE.

The new edition of CATALOGUE, the journal for contemporary art published by Cork Street Galleries is 100 years in the making.

In 1925, Freddie Mayor opened The Mayor Gallery at 18 Cork Street, what would in retrospect set the beginning of Cork Street as a unique art destination with the highest concentration of galleries worldwide, becoming the spiritual home of modern and contemporary art.

It is, however Peggy Guggenheim we look to in anointing issue 8.0, marking Cork Street’s centenary our way and focusing on a hugely influential moment that is still somehow largely understated in its cultural contribution.

In January 1938, Peggy opened her first gallery Guggenheim Jeune at 30 Cork Street above a pawn shop. It ran for just 18 months before closing in June 1939, punching beyond its firework-like existence – there are no street photos – with first showings of artists that later became not just part of the fabric of the art world but vernacular new-masters of prestigious museums.

Guggenheim Jeune’s opening exhibition was Jean Cocteau, curated by Marcel Duchamp, who acted as Guggenheim’s artistic advisor. A work made specially by Cocteau was deemed obscene and detained at Croydon Airport, with Duchamp and Guggenheim having to convince customs to release the art, on the understanding that it was to be shown in a back room.

La peur donnant des ailes au courage (or ‘Fear Giving Wings to Courage’) gives spirit and a translated title to our new issue. As well as fuelling a group show across the galleries, and a new banners commission in the open air curated by Tarini Malik of our neighbour the Royal Academy of Arts.

Boldness, bravery and a largesse of idiosyncrasy runs through Cork Street history – but Louisa Buck will fill you in on that. Recalling our fondly thought-of characters and their ways that made Cork Street what it is, her oratory captured in print is nonpareil.

Throughout this magazine we celebrate mind and vigour. Phoebe Collings-James – an artist that in 2024 saw their installation at Kunstverein Hamburg vandalised – engages in conversation with Anthea Hamilton, the observations and navigations of which result in read to return to. We see Jenkin van Zyl, who has his first major show ‘Lost Property’ at Denmark’s ARoS, through his work, though it is un-separate from his magnificent every day image. Shirin Neshat, the Iranian-born artist, speaks with power to an Iranian-born writer, the New York Times contributor Farah Nayeri. While Gareth Harris shines light on the suppression of LGBTQ+ artists in ‘illiberal democracies’, sharing an extract from his essential book Censored Art Today.

‘Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector’, the first large-scale museum exhibition celebrating her years in the UK, will arrive at the RA in the autumn of 2026. It is a crucial period that contributed to defining Guggenheim as a patron and enthusiast. So coming home, then, of sorts – mere steps away from Cork Street.

Download CATALOGUE 8.0 to enjoy as part of your screen time, and pick up a print copy, while stocks last, on your next visit to Cork Street.