![](data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" height="717px" width="1792px"></svg>)
F rom Henry Moore and Ben Nicholson to Gerhard Richter and David Hockney, the collection of paintings and sculpture put together over many decades by Elizabeth Corob demonstrates a lifelong passion and interest in the arts. At its core, the collection has a strong British narrative incorporating many of the artists who were at the vanguard of their time – from Walter Sickert and David Bomberg in the early decades of the 20th century to Henry Moore and Ben Nicholson, two of the titans of British Art working in the middle of the century to a superlative group of works by David Hockney, undoubtedly Britain’s greatest living artist today.
Born and brought up in London, Elizabeth married Sidney Corob in 1949 and together they built the Corob Group into a successful property investment company that continues today. For their first home together, contrary to the vogue at the time for mid-century designs made fashionable by the Festival of Britain in 1951, Elizabeth began collecting antique furniture, honing her eye in antique shops and markets.
She developed a love for visiting galleries and became friends with art world characters such as Peter Batkin at Sotheby’s as well as many gallerists. The provenances for her paintings read like a who’s who of the London art scene in the post-war period – acquisitions were made from the likes of Knoedler, Kasmin, Marlborough Fine Art and more recently from Annely Juda.
By the time the family moved to their home in Hampstead in the 1960s, Elizabeth had become interested in some of the most dynamic British artists of the period including Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland and Ivon Hitchens as well as younger artists such as Keith Vaughan and Elisabeth Frink. United by a bold approach to both colour and form, the collection brings together paintings and drawings as well as a strong group of sculpture demonstrating Elizabeth’s eye for three-dimensional form.
The collection of works by Hockney in particular reveals the continuous energy Elizabeth had for supporting the arts – she became interested in his work from a very early stage in his career, acquiring drawings from Hockney’s first dealer John Kasmin and followed his development each decade with the last Hockney entering the collection in 2006. Her family remember fondly that she was really ‘chuffed’ when he became so well known. Elizabeth especially enjoyed supporting younger artists and alongside Hockney, she also came to know Patrick Procktor and Bryan Organ who painted her and Sidney’s portraits.
