THE ART OF COLLECTING

 

 

 

 An exhibition of paintings from the permanent collections of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery,  Curated by Roger Cucksey and John Wilson, July 2007

 

 

The Newport Museum and Art Gallery Collections 

A curator's scrapbook by john wilson & roger cucksey

  

The permanent collections of  the Newport Museum and Art Gallery have been over a hundred years in the making. We provide the following reflections upon their origins, growth and future challenge.

 

 

 Dylan Thomas once remarked that his local Swansea museum was "a museum of a museum". All art collections are themselves likewise a testimony to the art of collecting. The result of a fortuitous mix of private benefactions, public educational principles and curatorial nurturing over the decades, Newport has quietly built up a public art collection of which it can be proud.

 

 

 

Newport Museum and Art Gallery’s collections and the building in which they are housed reflect the changing fortunes of the city, the generosity of individual benefactors and the long-standing commitment of the Council to provide a museum and art gallery for the people of Newport and visitors to the city.

 

 

 

These notes were written in  June 2007 to accompany the exhibition THE ART OF COLLECTING. -  John Wilson

 

Origins - Growth - Collecting policy - Challenges ahead


Origins

 

The rapid development of the  iron and coal industries brought unprecedented growth to Newport during the nineteenth century.  This prosperity led to the establishment of cultural amenities which included a Free Public Library in 1870.  The Library Committee recommended that the building should be extended to include a museum for "the deposit of works of art and objects of scientific and local interest", thus reflecting sound Victorian principles to inform and educate the public.

 

 

In 1888 a new and distinctive building in Dock Street ( shown above) was opened to house The Newport Free Library, Museum and School of Art and Science. The building was extended in 1895 to create a gallery specifically for the exhibition of paintings. 

 

 

The exhibits were initially loaned by local collectors, artists and institutions.  The status of the Gallery was such that in 1897, the National Gallery in London loaned fifty-six original drawings by JMW Turner. 

 

 

By 1900 the Museum and Art Gallery had become a respected and prominent institution in Newport.  In 1913 the position of the Museum was enhanced by the appointment of a full-time curator.  




Growth

 

The art collections grew rapidly during the inter-war years mainly due to the generosity of two local families; the Brewer-Williams and the Bailey families donated oil paintings, watercolour drawings, old master drawings, glass and ceramics.

 

 

This period of activity was suspended during World War II when several of the collections were removed to mid-Wales to protect them from enemy bombing. On their return it was clear that the gallery space was inadequate and many of the works were in need of conservation. 

 

 

Post-war development saw the careful acquisition of British paintings and drawings including work by Dame Laura Knight, Stanley Spencer, John Minton, Edward Wadsworth and L. S. Lowry with a particular emphasis on artists connected with Wales including Ceri Richards, Merlyn Evans, Kyffin Williams, Evan Charlton, Harry Holland and Shani Rhys James.



 

The redevelopment of the town centre during the 1960s provided a modern museum and art gallery with larger exhibition spaces. HRH Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, opened the new building on 5th April 1968.

 

 

 

 The Art Gallery had become the most modern exhibition facility in Wales. Equipped with air-conditioning, it was further enhanced during the 1970s by the addition of specialist lighting and an innovative system of adjustable panels which could adapt to the requirements of particular exhibitions. Storage facilities were constructed within the Gallery to make the collections more accessible to researchers and visitors. The storage conditions require constant monitoring; the collections are regularly in­spected and there is a constant programme of conservation.

 

 

The size and adaptability of the Gallery permitted the display of temporary exhibitions alongside works from the permanent collection. The exhibition programme has included a wide variety of major touring shows with work by artists as diverse as Picasso, Edward Hopper and Gerald Scarfe.





Collecting policy


The collections fulfil two aims: Firstly, to present work of the highest quality and craftsmanship; and secondly, to complement other departments in the acquisition of material which relates directly to Newport and the surrounding county.  

 

 

This guiding policy has led to the regular commissioning of artists to portray the changing face of Newport and its surrounding area.




~ For example, in 1988 the Newport Museum and Art Gallery celebrated its Centenary and marked the occasion by commissioning Falcon Hildred (shown left ) to undertake a suite of fifty watercolour drawings to record the buildings, streets and open spaces of Newport. The project was supported by substantial grant aid.

 

 

  

 

~ Likewise Thomas Rathmell's Newport from Christchurch Road (shown left ),  of  1984, which was conceived as a modern counterpart to James Flewitt Mullock's Victorian view Newport, Monmouthshire (c.1860), based upon the same vantage point over the burgeoning town of Newport from Christchurch Hill. 

 

 

 
 

The Art Gallery’s collecting policy is receptive to new developments and opportunities. Studio ceramics, contemporary prints, costume, and Royal commemoratives have been among recent acquisitions.

 

 

 

 

 

Rising prices in the art market in recent years demand that most purchases are grant-aided from government sources.  These include Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries (formerly the Museums and Galleries Commission) and The Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund).  

 

 

Such assistance has made possible the purchase of a unique collection of period portraits which are displayed at Tredegar House, a magnificent watercolour of a nineteenth century proposal for a Severn Barrage by Thomas Fulljames, an oil painting by Donald Floyd of the building of Newport Bridge in 1927 and a tempera painting, The Tragic Group, by Merlyn Evans.

 

 

The Arts Council of Wales, the Contemporary Art Society for Wales and the Contemporary Art Society, London have been the most important public source of gifts to the collections over the years.

  

 

Fortuitous private benefactions have continued to boost the collections over the decades. During the 1980s, John and Elizabeth Wait presented their collection of tea wares.  Teapots dating from 1800 to present day are displayed in a series of period rooms and especially designed cases which also include ephemera, packaging, advertising signs and tea making implements and contemporary craft teapots.

 

 

During the 1990s Iris and John Fox bequeathed eccentric collections of pottery and porcelain including many rare Wemyss items. They are displayed together with some of Mrs Fox’s personal effects in her own cabinets.





Challenges ahead

 

Museums and art galleries nowadays face a changing world with fresh challenges and opportunities ahead, seeking both to fulfil their traditional public educational role and to demonstrate their value as a civic and national asset.

 

 

 

The global art investment market is in overdrive, a place that public art collections cannot hope to compete. Unprecedented pressures upon public finances have eaten into traditional art collecting budgets. One public authority has even gone to go to the auction house, in the cause celebre of the Bury Lowry.  The Art Fund's report The Collecting Challenge (2006) states, "lack of advocacy and support for collecting in both central and local government means there is a danger that the collecting habit is being lost, along with the skills and expertise necessary for it." 

 

 

 

On the other hand art enjoys a new currency in public policy as a catalyst for regeneration. As witness urban regeneration schemes such as the Lowry in Salford, the Baltic in Newcastle, and more recently Middlesbrough's MIMA. And there has even been talk of a Contemporary Centre for Art in Wales with Newport touted as a frontrunner, seeking to  realize the Bilbao-Guggenheim factor for art and regeneration. 

 

 

 

Newport's very success in building its art collections brings its own challenges, for it has long been recognised that the apparently spacious galleries belie the real situation that there is insufficient room to display Newport’s permanent collections adequately. Moreover an increasingly wide-reaching education programme, rising attendances and enquiries from the general public, specialist requests from researchers, newspapers and broadcast agencies, all indicate a growing public and professional awareness of the Newport Museum and Art Gallery collections. We hope that this support for the work of the Gallery coupled with our efforts to improve and extend the service through new media and technology will keep pace with the changing needs of our visitors.

 

 


 For example, moving into the Internet age we recently set up the  online gallery and archive Documenting the City and have been encouraged by the public response to continue to build this online resource ( - see South Wales Argus, Internet opens up art hoard and Gilt behind the scenes).

 

 

 

With a valuable tradition of collecting to build upon, a lively context of city regeneration plus new policy directions for art in post-devolution Wales - we may look ahead to a new chapter in Newport's art of collecting?

 

 

There have been some concerning signs for the future of public museum and art galleries and the practice of collecting in recent years. The Bury Lowry controversy highlighted unprecedented pressures on public finances plus an erosion of the traditional loyalty to the local museum and gallery. The words of the The Art Fund 's 2006 report on The Collecting Challenge are sobering and are arguably set to ring true over the coming decade: 

 


"The Art Fund’s research exposes a real crisis in funding and a failure by central and local government to recognise the importance of collecting to the life of our museums. The Art Fund’s UK-wide research, the first authoritative study into museum and gallery collecting activity (...) points to a worrying trend – the focus on improving education, access and social inclusion is diverting museums from the central task of building their collections.  Lack of advocacy and support for collecting in both central and local government means there is a danger that the collecting habit is being lost, along with the skills and expertise necessary for it." 


 


Links

 

  • National Museum Wales and Arts Council of Wales | The Display of Art In Wales | Prepared by DCA Consultants and Peter Jenkinson OBE | January 2006
  • Welsh Assembly Government | Press release | Future of Display of Art in Wales | Minister for Culture, Welsh Language and Sport Alun Pugh has today published an independent report in conjunction with Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales and the Arts Council of Wales on the future display of art in Wales. | 23 June 2006. 
  • The Art Fund | The Collecting Challenge (2006):

    "The Art Fund’s research exposes a real crisis in funding and a failure by central and local government to recognise the importance of collecting to the life of our museums. The Art Fund’s UK-wide research, the first authoritative study into museum and gallery collecting activity (...) points to a worrying trend – the focus on improving education, access and social inclusion is diverting museums from the central task of building their collections.  Lack of advocacy and support for collecting in both central and local government means there is a danger that the collecting habit is being lost, along with the skills and expertise necessary for it."   | The Art Fund is an independent charity committed to saving art for everyone to  enjoy. | Since we began in 1903, we have helped to save over 850,000 works of art. | The ability of UK museums to collect is now under serious threat. | Public money spent by our five major museums on acquiring new works has fallen by 90% in the last 10 years - but art market prices have soared.| (...) With the help of our 80,000 members we have offered more than 600 museums and galleries around the UK, over 850,000 works of art, from priceless masterpieces which were under threat of being sold abroad, to fascinating works costing a few hundred pounds. | (...) We use our independence to campaign for the proper funding of museums and the continued enrichment of public collections throughout the UK.| (...) We promote wide access to art: The Art Fund led the campaign to extend free admission to all national museums and galleries, which achieved success in 2001.| At a time when public funding for museum collecting is in steep decline, The Art Fund has an increasingly vital role to play. ( here )


  • Resource: The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

     | The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) is the lead strategic agency for museums, libraries and archives. We are part of the wider MLA Partnership, working with the nine regional agencies to improve people’s lives by building knowledge, supporting learning, inspiring creativity and celebrating identity. The Partnership acts collectively for the benefit of the sector and the public, leading the transformation of museums, libraries and archives for the future. | MLA was launched in April 2000 as the strategic body working with and for museums, archives and libraries, tapping into the potential for collaboration between them. The new organisation replaced the Museums and Galleries Commission (MGC) and the Library and Information Commission (LIC), and includes archives within its portfolio.

  • CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales. | CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales was established as a new division of the Welsh Assembly Government on 1 April 2004. | CyMAL represents a significant investment by the Assembly Government in the development of local museums, archives and libraries services which meet 21st century needs. It builds on the strategic agenda outlined in the Assembly Government’s strategic agenda, Wales: A Better Country.|| "Our museums, archives and libraries are more than places where cultural artefacts are kept. They are educational centres where families, schools, and all members of the public can access information and collections": Welsh Assembly Government: Museums, Archives and Libraries here 
  • Contemporary Art Society for Wales.| "The objects of the Society shall be to foster and promote the maintenance, improvement and development of artistic taste and the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the arts among the people of Wales." | The Society endeavours to fulfil it's aims by: purchasing artworks for gifting to appropriate institutions (...) (here)
  • Contemporary Art Society | The Contemporary Art Society ensures that the most challenging art being made today enters public, private and corporate collections. | Public collections: Since 1909 the Contemporary Art Society has used its expertise to acquire the work of living artists, often early in their careers. In the last ten years we have bought and commissioned more than a thousand works of art for museum collections throughout the world.  Over the last ten years the Contemporary Art Society has also worked closely with museums on the professional development of curators of contemporary collections. 
  • Bury Lowry on flickr | Media coverage:  L.S. Lowry's oil painting A Riverbank, owned by Bury Council in Greater Manchester, sold for more than twice the expected price when it went under the hammer at Christie's.

 

THE ART OF COLLECTING