{{Short description|London private members club}} {{About|the British members' club|the Vancouver, Canada theatre company|Arts Club Theatre Company}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}} {{Use British English|date=July 2015}} {{more footnotes|date=May 2015}} {{infobox Organization |name = The Arts Club |image = The Arts Club and its members (1920) (14769955161).jpg |image_border = |image_size = |caption = The Club's First Floor Lobby and Staircase |map = |map_size = |map_caption = |abbreviation = |formation = 1863 |founder = |extinction = |type = Arts, Literature & Science |status = |purpose = |headquarters = London, England |location = 40 Dover Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4NP |region_served = |num_members = |language = |leader_title = President |leader_name = Sir Peter Blake |main_organ = |parent_organization = |affiliations = |num_staff = |num_volunteers = |budget = |website = {{URL|http://www.theartsclub.co.uk}} |remarks = }} '''The Arts Club''' is a London private members' club in Dover Street, Mayfair, founded in 1863 by Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and Lord Leighton among others. It remains a meeting place for men and women involved in the creative arts either professionally or as patrons.

==History== In the nineteenth century members and guests included Dickens, Millais, Whistler, Kipling, Monet, Rodin, Degas and Turgenev.{{cn|date=May 2022}} As early as 1891, James Whistler, one of the Arts Club's leading members, broke away to found the rival Chelsea Arts Club.

== Clubhouse == thumb|c. 1920 photograph of the club The original club premises were at 17 Hanover Square, Mayfair. After thirty years there, the club moved nearby to its current accommodation, an 18th-century townhouse at 40 Dover Street, Mayfair, just north of the Ritz Hotel on Piccadilly, formerly the London home of the family of the Baron Stanley of Alderley. It was badly bombed in the Blitz and extensively rebuilt. In December 2020 the club opened its first international outpost in Dubai in the ICD Brookfield Place building, Ajaz Sheikh was named CEO of the Dubai Arts Club. In 2023, Mr Sheikh was named Partner and Group CEO for the Clubs. <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cntravellerme.com/destination-dining/a-look-inside-dubais-ultra-exclusive-the-arts-club-dubai|title=A LOOK INSIDE DUBAI’S ULTRA-EXCLUSIVE THE ARTS CLUB DUBAI|date=2021-05-20|work=Conde Nast Traveller|access-date=2021-07-05|language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Membership== {{unsourced section|date=May 2022}} Current membership includes a number of Royal Academicians, architects, musicians, actors and writers. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was the Patron and Sir Peter Blake is the President of the Club. Current members include Grayson Perry, the photographer Tom Hunter, the actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Kim Cattrall and also Ronnie Wood. Well known "non-artist" members include Richard Attenborough, Matthew Parris, and Henry Blofeld.

As of 2012, the Club has no reciprocal clubs in the UK. However, a number of clubs outside the UK of similar character have reciprocal arrangements, including the Cercle de l'Union interalliée in Paris, The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, the St. Botolph and Algonquin Clubs in Boston, the Cosmos Club in Washington DC, the Arts Club of Chicago and the Arts Club of Washington DC, and the Century Association, The Coffee House, National Arts Club and Salmagundi Club in New York.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *Rogers, G. A. F. ''[https://archive.org/details/artsclubitsmembe00roge The Arts Club and its members]'' (London: Truslove and Hanson, 1920). *{{cite book |title=The Gentlemen's Clubs of London |publisher=MacDonald and Jane's |location=London |first=Anthony |last=Lejeune |year=1979 |isbn=0-354-08504-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gentlemensclubso0000leje }} *{{cite book |title=A Most Agreeable Society: A Hundred and Twenty-Five Years of the Arts Club |publisher=The Arts Club |location=London |first=Bernard |last=Denvir |year=1989 |isbn=1-85170-323-3}} *{{cite book | last = Thévoz | first = Seth Alexander | title = London Clubland: A Companion for the Curious | publisher = Robinson/Little, Brown | location = London | year = 2025 | isbn =978-1472149985 }}

==External links== *{{Commonscatinline}} *{{Official website|http://www.theartsclub.co.uk/}}

{{Arts-themed gentlemen's clubs of London}}

{{Coord|51|30|29.49|N|0|8|32.02|W|scale:1563_region:GB|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arts Club, The}} Category:1863 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:British artist groups and collectives Category:Arts in the United Kingdom Category:Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Category:Gentlemen's clubs in London Category:Mayfair Category:Arts organizations established in 1863