Della Butcher

Della Butcher was an art gallery owner and an avid patron of Singapore art, noted for her lifetime of work supporting Singaporean artists and making it an international name.

She was born and raised in London, and studied art at London College of Art (now Royal College of Art). After her graduation from College in 1939, she joined a fashion house as a designer, but did not stay with the house for long as she had disagreements with work ethics found with the management. She tried her hand in auto racing but felt it was too exhilarating for her. She joined the British Police Division in Reigate, Surrey at the outbreak of World War II. becoming the first woman constable in the history of that county.

When the War ended, Della took on various jobs such as a telephone operator, and as a stewardess on the Hunting Clan Airlines. Being a wanderlust by nature, she was enthralled with flying to various parts of Europe and Africa and seeing different cultures and places. She was especially fond of the life and culture of Africa.

Leaving behind her flying days, Della took an office job as a manager for Skyways Aircraft Corporation in Cyprus in 1953. It was there that she met and fell in love with an archeologist doing field work in Cyprus. She resigned from Skyways to become his assistant for six years. Digging for artifacts excited her, and she kept everything she found. When she had amassed enough artifacts she would organize an exhibition, arranging and showcasing them to interested parties. It was her first foray into preparing art exhibitions. When her archeologist boyfriend was promoted as the new assistant curator for the London Museum, Della decided to end the relationship as she in her words, "just couldn't see myself working in the basement of the Museum for the rest of my life..." She had moved on with her life which took her to Beirut in Lebanon working as public relations for the Alumni Association of the American University. At the University she wrote art reviews for the alumni magazine, and was involved in organizing art and artifact exhibitions with the University arts group. The exotic colors and excitement of life there captured every bit of her imagination, and she thought for sure it would be the last place that she would ever leave. She chanced upon a lady in Lebanon and found out that she had owned a boutique in Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu) in Sabah. It was 1964, and the lady offered her a position as a manager for her boutique in Jesselton. Della saw the chance to see new cultures in exotic Asia, and agreed to take up that position.

On-route to Jesselton, her flight stopped over in Singapore for two days. During her stay, she searched around the island looking for art galleries and museums to visit. She stopped by the Princess Elizabeth Walk near the Esplanade, and was captured by the beautiful creations on display by Singaporean artists Cheong Soo Pieng, Lee Man Fong, Chen Wen Hsi and Thomas Yeo for the first time. She also realized these artists had no art galleries to represent and sell their works at all. When it was time to leave for Jesselton she resolved to return to the island country to make a difference for Singapore artists, just as she boarded the Straits Steamship The Raja Brooke.

Jesselton was a logging town, with a thriving community of white expatriate loggers and local Iban and Kenyah tribespeople interacting. Often these tribepeople would emerge from the jungles with their traditional handicrafts to sell for money, and to buy tobacco and colored calico. Della saw the opportunity to sell Iban and Kenyah crafts and jewellery by exporting these traditional wares to Singapore.

Two and a half years later in 1967, Della came back to Singapore once again. She studied the local art market, and found that there was only the Donald Moore Gallery in Liat Towers which sold artifacts at that time. She fell seriously ill, and had to be admitted at the Mount Alvernia Hospital. Though in her grave condition, she had not forgotten her conviction for Singaporean artists and the will to open gallery to promote Singapore art. She was certain that local artists had the potential to succeed as local expatriates were increasingly fond of Chinese artworks by Singapore artists, notwithstanding the lack of interest with art by locals seeking wealth and fortune in post-war Singapore.

In July 1968 Della met Constance Meyer, an expatriate wife living in Singapore, and an avid collector of antiques and Balinese art. They shared a passion for Singapore art, and Constance thought it was essential for Singapore artists to have a place to exhibit their artworks and where tourists visiting Singapore can buy from, in order to develop an international recognition for themselves. Over the next 20 months the two women went into planning and action, searching for a good location to launch their gallery idea. Their gallery, named the Meyer Gallery was officially opened on 17 March 1970 in an old shophouse next to Robinson's Department Store on the corner of Raffles Place and Chulia Street. This gallery was set up with help from the then-Minister for Culture Jek Yuen Thong, Minister for Finance Goh Keng Swee, the Chairman of National Theatre Trust Dr. Goh Poh Seng, the High Commissioner of Malaysia Dr. Lien Ying Chow and the US Ambassador to Singapore, Mr. Francis J. Galbraith.

The new gallery sold both Singapore art, and tribal handicrafts. Della later renamed her gallery The Gallery of Fine Art when her partner Constance left for Australia. Running the business on her own, money became a constant problem for Della and often had to take on other freelance jobs like organizing film documentary sessions for multinational corporations, and designing and making 33 pairs of uniforms for Saber Air Private Limited within 3 weeks, just to keep it going and to support local artists. Being new to the business, she also faced criticisms from other people - for presenting too many pictures at a show, for poor display and lighting, and for not providing proper catalogues. These criticisms did not bother her, as she was more determined with getting buyers for Singapore artists. She valued every exhibition space she can get her hands on, from busy hotel lobbies, to makeshift stalls on street pavements and the decks of luxury liners, and even driving around the island with paintings in the boot of her old yellow 1962 Morris Minor, just so that potential buyers can see the actual paintings and buy them. On 21 November 1972, a massive fire broke out at Robinson's Department Store and caused inmeasurable damage to her gallery. This forced to relocate her business to the Raffles Hotel. Moving to the new location, she had to recover her losses and to pay her bills fast. Thus she started buying flats, and renting them out to people to supplement her income. She also exhibited Singapore art at the Long Bar and the Tiffin Room in the Hotel. In the late-1970s, The Gallery of Fine Art was relocated to the Orchard Towers and it was here that Della made major headway to internationalise Singapore art.


With each successful exhibition, Della become increasingly bold and creative in promoting her art business. On January 1979, she clinched a sponsorship from the Singapore Airlines to put up a series of art exhibitions featuring 150 paintings by 8 Singaporean artists - Ang Ah Tee, Nai Swee Leng, Ong Kim Seng, Tang Juey Lee, Tay Bak Koi, Wan Soon Kam, and sibling artists Henry and Karen Hoisington - in the Middle Eastern cities of Bahrain, Dubai and Kuwait. The exhibition tour began in the city of Bahrain on 9 January 1979, and lasted for 5 days at each city. In spite of the fact that she had organized the show single-handedly, the touring exhibition received enormous success especially in the city of Dubai. The Dubai Arts Society also had sponsored mobile screens to exhibit the paintings at the Dubai Sheraton Hotel. She had not only sold 50 paintings in that city alone, the show had also helped to generate much interest in Singapore as tourist spot, by the locals. Further to that the Society had also agreed to cultural exchange exhibitions with artists from both lands, in Dubai and at her Gallery in Singapore respectively in the following year.

In 1982, The Gallery of Fine Art opened a new branch at the newly opened Changi Airport. It was claimed as the world's first art gallery to be found in an airport. The Gallery was unique as it had no walls, and the paintings were displayed on mobile revolving screens. She also held exhibitions on board the luxury cruise ship, The Princess Mahsuri (now known as Spirit of Adventure) in 1984. Della's reputation grew to be known as one of the first local art dealers who promoted Singapore art overseas, and to declare that Singapore art were on par with "international standards".

UNESCO also noted her keen business sense, on their study of the Singapore arts climate over two occasions between 1980 and 1982. In the study of the Singapore art culture between 2 May and 8 May 1980, Duncan noted Della's uniqueness in making use of Mandarin Hotel's premises to launch her ambitious series of exhibitions, in contrast to peer art galleries which normally had art exhibitions within their own premises. In fact, this uniqueness went one step further in the 1986 Arts Festival fringe art effort held between May 31 and June 15. During the Festival Della showcased an exhibition of orchid paintings by Tang Juey Lee at the Hilton Hotel Music Room. At the same time, an exhibition of Choy Moo Kheong's paintings was advised to, and curated at the rival Low Pine Gallery in Ming Court Hotel, also as part of the Festival programme. Though both Tang and Choy were represented by Della's gallery, she had no qualms to Choy exhibiting with a competitor, and even providing aid to setting up the exhibition at the location. This not only demonstrated flexibility in running her arts business, it also showed her generosity to work with, and share with her peers.

Tang And Choy's exhibition was the last show she had organized with the Gallery of Fine Arts. With her poor health she ended the gallery business at the end of the Arts Festival in 1986. She returned to business again in 1988 with a new Della Butcher Gallery located in Cuppage Terrace.

Read more about Della Butcher:  Della Butcher Art Gallery At 39A Cuppage Terrace, The Mother of Singapore Artists, Della Butcher Award