In 1936, Geoffrey and Olive Holland moved to a house they had had built for themselves near Reigate in Surrey. It was, as their daughter, Angela, would recall, mentioned in Pevsner’s county guide. “Much less gauche than most 1930s houses” was the gazetteer’s backhanded verdict.
The first British commission of Frederick Curtis, a refugee from Nazi Germany, the house, which they called Peverel, was rather braver than that. So, too, was the collection of art that it housed: among others, works by such risky stars of the avant garde as John Piper and John Minton. When the Hollands’ daughter opened a gallery in London four decades later, it was with the knowledge that collecting called for courage.
