A British museum without walls

About the British Council, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary in France, and its travelling collection of works of art.

Thanks to the “Story of the Month” in the September issue of Beaux Arts Magazine, I became passionate about the British Council. No, not to brush up on my English, although it could really do with it, but for its art collection… which I was completely unaware of! I don’t know why, I just thought that temporary exhibitions were sometimes held in this place known for its language courses, like the Goethe Institut with German… Fortunately, the institution is celebrating its 80th anniversary so that I can finally learn more about it, because between scandals and diplomatic successes, this is a story that weaves fascinating links between art and geopolitics.

The British Council’s art collection, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary in France, is part of a broader initiative by the British Council around the world to promote British art and culture. This collection, which was formed in the late 1930s in response to the rise of fascism, has become one of the most important public collections of contemporary British art outside the United Kingdom! It contains over 8,500 works of art, and covers a wide range of mediums: painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, video and graphic arts. Notable artists whose works feature in this collection include names such as Lucian Freud, known for his intense portraits; David Hockney, with his explorations of light and portraiture; Francis Bacon, famous for his distorted and powerful representations of the human figure; Henry Moore, who influenced modern sculpture; and Barbara Hepworth, a renowned abstract sculptor. No less!

The British Council acquires these works directly from artists or art galleries, often at the beginning of the creators’ careers, which allows the collection to reveal emerging trends in British art: which is what it was originally intended to do. The British Council’s art collection aims to “present the evolution of modern and contemporary British art, by exhibiting works by renowned and emerging artists”. The idea is to promote cultural exchanges between the United Kingdom and other countries, particularly France, by organising exhibitions, loans and events around these works. The British Council’s presence in France, which dates back to the interwar period, is part of a cultural diplomacy approach aimed at forging links between the two nations through art and culture.

Of course, when the British Council’s Fine Arts Committee first met in 1935, it was made up of only men. Knights of the United Kingdom, eminent professors and museum directors, these gentlemen “were tasked with selecting works from national museums and private collectors in order to mount exhibitions designed to showcase British talent abroad”, Jordane de Faÿ reminds us in Beaux Arts Magazine. Modest funds only allowed for the organisation of a single major exhibition every two years, but the British Council committee was also responsible for the official selection of the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale and the New York World's Fair... Whose theme in 1939, "The World of Tomorrow", is chilling today. Nevertheless, the English King George V and President Franklin Roosevelt both came to see the exhibition, which opened with an imposing inscription evoking "enduring peace and friendship between the peoples of the United States of America and the British Empire".

All countries gradually asked the British Council to lend works of art to temporary exhibitions, which quickly encouraged it to set up its own collection. The patronage will enable the purchase of inexpensive, reproducible and modestly sized works of art, such as lithographs, watercolours, drawings, prints or engravings, in order to allow them to travel around the world… without necessarily being able to return. It is crazy to read today notes scribbled next to the names of the works of art purchased, in the first registers of the collection: “Lost in Uganda”, “Stolen in Argentina”, “Destroyed by fire in Lahore”, “Destroyed during civil riots in Cyprus”… In addition to being moving, the history of the British Council’s art collection is, as Jordane de Faÿ writes, “as much a history of modern and contemporary art as a history of geopolitical encounters and confrontations”.

Henry Moore’s sculptures then arrived, becoming symbols of the reconstruction of a Europe still marked by the rubble of war and separated by an iron curtain, like the paintings of Graham Sutherland, whose pillars and electrical cogs of the Thorn Trees canvas evoke the shape of a nuclear mushroom cloud. As for David Hockney’s engravings in which two naked young men are in bed, they caused quite a stir in 1968 at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City on the occasion of the Olympic Games… and would not return until half a century later, at the time of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Mexico. And the choices of the British Council would still shock in France in 1979, when the British ambassador in Paris watched, stunned, at the end of Kevin Atherton’s performance, the visual artist finding himself completely naked. Too bad for the ambassador! “Art does its best work when it explores our weaknesses,” maintained the director of the collection, John Burgh. Cultural relations seek mutual understanding and encourage all activities that are representative of society and culture, not just those that are flattering and do not disturb." Nevertheless, the 60 artists exhibited that year were white...

Finally, "in the 1990s and 2000s, acquisitions by black artists and female creators became more important," notes the journalist. Sonia Boyce, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, Lubaina Himid... The traveling collection now includes 8,500 works of art, of which on average a third are loaned each year to international museums and art centers.

The presence of this collection in France of course contributes to strengthening cultural and diplomatic ties between France and the United Kingdom, even outside of political relations. Which is particularly valuable since Brexit. We call it cultural diplomacy. By using art as a universal language, we promote mutual understanding and creative exchanges between the two countries. At the Lyon Biennale, for example, it is thanks to the British Council that the French will be able to encounter the work of contemporary British artists such as Jeremy Deller, Oliver Beer and Grace N’diritu… among others.

Article written by Valibri en Roulotte

Illustration: Commemorative postcard of the English pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair, New York