Winners of the Critics’ Circle's ‘Commercial Exhibition of the Year’ Award In recognition of our exhibition on Sarah Biffin

We are delighted to have won ‘Commercial Exhibition of the Year’ for our exhibition “Without Hands”: The Art of Sarah Biffin. It was awarded on 29 September at the Saatchi Gallery by the Critics’ Circle for Visual Arts & Architecture.

Sarah Biffin, a British artist born in 1784, went on to make a distinguished career for herself as a miniature painter. She was born with the condition phocomelia, which left her without arms and legs, and learned to master a brilliant brush technique using her mouth and shoulder. She became a celebrated painter, enjoying royal patronage and exhibiting at the Royal Academy. “Without Hands”, which took place last year, garnered examples of her work from public and private collections, and retold her story, which took her from challenging beginnings as a fairground attraction, to professional travelling painter and portraitist . Proudly signing her artworks “without hands”, we used this signature expression to title the exhibition to celebrate her life-long achievement and determination.

Other winners included The National Portrait Gallery, in recognition of their transformative renovation, and The National Gallery for their exhibition on St Francis of Assisi.