Anton Zwemmer

Anton Zwemmer
Born	(1892-02-18) 18 February 1892 Haarlem, The Netherlands
Died	23 January 1979(1979-01-23) (aged 86) The Priory, Rotherfield, Crowborough, East Sussex, England
Occupation(s)	Bookseller, art dealer, publisher, collector
Known for	Founder of Zwemmer's Bookshop and Zwemmer Gallery; promoter of modern art in Britain

Anton Zwemmer (1892–1979), originally from the Netherlands and later based in Britain, was a distinguished bookseller, distributor of books, art dealer, publisher, and collector who established both Zwemmer's Bookshop and the Zwemmer Gallery in London. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, he played a pivotal role in advancing modern art within Britain, championing prominent artists including Picasso, Henry Moore, and Wyndham Lewis. His efforts in bookselling and publishing significantly contributed to broadening the appreciation of modern art.

Early life

Born on 18 February 1892 in Haarlem, The Netherlands, Anton Zwemmer was the son of Arie and Baukje Huizinga Zwemmer, who had modest means. After leaving school at the age of fifteen, he gained experience working for the publisher Herman Tjeenk Willink and bookseller H. N. Mul in Haarlem, before relocating to Amsterdam to join Kirberger & Kesper, known for their specialization in English literature. This company assigned him to England to establish trade links within the book industry. In 1914, Zwemmer moved permanently to England where he was employed by the prominent wholesaler Simpkin Marshall. He quickly advanced to manage Harrods' Knightsbridge bookshop and by 1916 was working at Richard Jäschke’s antiquarian and modern first editions shop located at 79 Charing Cross Road, London.

Arts bookseller

During the First World War, when Jäschke—a German national—was interned, Zwemmer took over management of the business until 1918. He later became a partner and eventually acquired the bookshop in 1923, renaming it A. Zwemmer (commonly referred to as "Zwemmer's").

Under his leadership, the shop’s emphasis shifted from rare antiquarian volumes toward art books and periodicals, with a particular focus on importing European publications. Following years of limited access to France and Germany—the epicentres of modern art—due to wartime restrictions, and inspired by Roger Fry’s pre-war exhibitions on Post-Impressionism, the British audience, dissatisfied with established institutions such as the Royal Academy, eagerly embraced Zwemmer’s selection of high-quality art books, prints, and international art magazines.

Zwemmer's became London’s premier destination for modern and avant-garde art literature, featuring publications on artists like Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Matisse alongside contemporary critical essays. The shop was especially noted for offering livres d'artiste, Wyndham Lewis’s The Enemy, as well as Stanley Morison’s typographical journal The Fleuron. Its window displays gained a reputation for striking visuals and vivid colour schemes.

Esteemed individuals such as Sir Kenneth Clark and Sir Anthony Blunt recognized its significance within academic art history circles, while artists including Henry Moore, John Piper, and Graham Sutherland acknowledged its inspirational impact on emerging painters and sculptors.

Zwemmer sustained a long-term commercial alliance with Swiss publisher Albert Skira, whose publishing house was renowned for producing luxurious colour art books and livres d'artiste. He was among the first to acquire Skira’s works and later acted as his British representative.

Arts publisher

Beginning in the mid-1920s, Zwemmer broadened his focus to include art book publishing, launching with works on Giotto (1927), Botticelli (1930), and Picasso (1931)—the latter marking the first English-language publication dedicated to Picasso. He championed British modern artists such as Henry Moore, producing publications like Herbert Read's Henry Moore, Sculptor (1934), which was the sculptor's inaugural monograph.

Publications released under Zwemmer's imprint, A. Zwemmer Ltd., were distinguished by their superior printing quality, featuring full-page photographic reproductions, an integrated blend of text and imagery, contemporary fonts, and elegant design. Numerous titles were co-published internationally with leading European or American houses, enabling cost efficiencies and wider exposure. These collaborations also provided English-speaking audiences access to French and German works that might otherwise have been inaccessible.

Zwemmer Gallery

In 1929, Zwemmer inaugurated the Zwemmer Gallery at 26 Litchfield Street, London, situated near his Charing Cross Road bookshop. The Times referred to this as a "logical ... development" that exhibited both British and international modern art publications.

The gallery emerged as a central venue for British modern art, showcasing creations by artists and sculptors including Henry Moore, Jacob Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, and Edward Bawden. It hosted a 1932 exhibition dedicated to the Curwen Press, with subsequent displays featuring Joan Miró, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, and Georges Rouault. In 1934, it presented Salvador Dalí's first solo exhibition in the UK alongside the Objective Abstractions show that highlighted the British Objective Abstraction movement. The gallery also held the final exhibition of the Seven and Five Society in 1935, recognized as the UK's first exclusively abstract art exhibition. Throughout its operation, Zwemmer sought to promote contemporary modern artists via his gallery, bookshop, and publishing ventures.

Second World War and after

With the outbreak of WWII, Zwemmer's partnerships with European publishers were interrupted due to import limitations. During this period, he concentrated on dealing in antiquarian books and enlisted his sons, Desmond and John, to assist in managing the business.

Following the war, the gallery supported rising British talents such as John Bratby and Harold Cheesman, a student of surrealist Paul Nash. In 1960, Australian artist Arthur Boyd made his London debut at Zwemmer Gallery.

Starting in 1944, Anton Zwemmer collaborated with Lund Humphries on a multi-volume series about Henry Moore's sculpture and in 1949 partnered with Skira to publish Stuart Gilbert's translation of André Malraux's The Psychology of Art. During the 1950s, John took charge of bookselling operations while Desmond managed publishing activities. The gallery continued functioning until 1968.

Anton Zwemmer passed away on 23 January 1979 at The Priory in Rotherfield, Crowborough, East Sussex. His wife Lilian Zwemmer (1893–1971) had resided at the same location.

Legacy

In Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Henry Moore acknowledged Anton Zwemmer as one of the pivotal individuals who reshaped the English art scene during his era. Through his bookshop, gallery, and publishing house, Zwemmer significantly influenced twentieth-century British art. Art critic Herbert Read described Zwemmer's establishment in 1962 as "more than a bookshop: it was a challenge to provincial ignorance and philistinism, a beacon of enlightenment."

In popular culture

Zwemmer's bookshop appears in John le Carré's espionage novel, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: "At Zwemmers, he browsed a coffee-table volume titled Musical Instruments Down the Ages and recalled that Camilla had recently taken a lesson with Dr. Sand, her flute instructor."

Further reading

• Anton Zwemmer: Tributes from Some of His Friends on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday, Privately printed, 1962.
• Nigel Vaux Halliday, More Than a Bookshop: Zwemmers and Art in the Twentieth Century, London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., 1991.

External links

• Anton Zwemmer (1892-1979), proprietor of an art bookshop – portrait held by the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Zwemmer Gallery at the British Museum