BAN Research: Post-War Painting in Regional Collections

We established the ‘Post War Painting in Regional Collections’ Research Group with two aims in mind, first to recognise the excellence of our regional public art collections and in doing so, mount a deliberate challenge to the centre-periphery model that dominates the narrative of British art …

Second, to explore how research conducted both within and across the Higher Education and Museums sectors can usefully shape new interpretations of regional post-war collections. Over the last year, our events have increasingly considered questions of diversity in regards to regional collections (is there diversity? How can/should we diversify collections?), guided by the focus and priorities of our Group’s members. Throughout all of this, cross-sector collaboration remains the driving force of our Group’s work, informing and shaping the subjects we look at and the events we arrange. It is built into the structure of our Group, which was established by both academic Art Historians working within universities and by Curators, working in public galleries. We have found this to be a great asset in developing the Research Group, in promoting emerging research into Post-War collections, and facilitating networking in the field. This short article presents our reflections on Curatorial-Academic collaboration, based on our experiences over the last year.

One of things I was most excited about when co-founding the Post War Painting Research Group was meeting people who were also working on regional art collections. My academic experience has been that regionalism is not traditionally a very highly valued topic in the Humanities, and so there are limited opportunities to develop scholarship around this subject. In contrast, the regional public arts sector, although perhaps similarly often overlooked, boasts an embarrassment of riches when it comes to archives and resources documenting regional art practice and reception. Establishing the Research Group has created a space where those researching this subject can come together with those who can provide access to these archives and resources. The outcome is a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and expertise. Academics are offered unique access materials that would otherwise be hard to get to. Curators are recognised as experts on this material, and curatorial work valued as a central contribution to research in the field. Challenges exist of course: the need to negotiate the different priorities of our respective fields is something we have to contend with. But overall, pooling resources and knowledge has been very beneficial. One of our big successes, our involvement in the redistribution of the Derbyshire Schools Library Service art collection, came as a result of our successful networking practice. I was contacted by Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, who were handling the redistribution of the Collection: they had heard about our Research Group and hoped we could get the word out about the distribution process. As a result of this, a number of our Curatorial members successfully applied to acquire works and so lots of important post-war paintings and works on paper have found new homes in regional public collections, from York, to Liverpool, to Pallant House and beyond.

Sophie Hatchwell, University of Birmingham

Increasing the Visibility of Collections

Regional Collections are rich in history, stories and incredible artworks. They are ripe for research, discussion and, essentially, serious attention. At the same time, these collections are often funding- and staffing-poor. For me as a Collections Curator (and as a department of one!) a key part of my role is to be able to promote our Collections, and make them accessible to the widest possible audience. It is wonderful to be able to collaborate with the British Art Network and academic partners to expand the scope for research into our Collections, and to make our work more visible to partners in other institutions across the country. Valuable collaborations and knowledge exchange can occur that otherwise would not have happened. I look forward to hearing the narratives which

Julie Brown, Collections Curator, The New Art Gallery Walsall

Promoting and Diversifying Our Understanding of Regionalism

Regional collections offer an extensive yet underused resource for a diverse range of academic research. Exempt from the blockbuster exhibition culture that typifies the national museums, these collections contain uniquely contextualised information about a huge variety of work- and so offer an important opportunity for exploring the heterogeneity of British art practice. Projects discussed amongst our network members range from local art movements to key pieces by canonical names; quantitative surveys of diversity in provincial holdings and how this reflects the local populace, to research into affective community-led curatorial praxis. The targeted knowledge offered by curators of Post-war regional collections is key to guiding academic researchers towards the essential focal points of specialist areas. Collaboration between curators and academics can dedicate further resources to help shape the taxonomy of existing holdings, and ensure that future acquisitions find a meaningful place within the institution. Last year’s event on ‘Regionalism, Value and Diversifying Post War British Art’ provided an important opening conversation about the different ways in which we could identify, situate and communicate the diversity of regional Post-war painting practice, from a joint academic-curatorial-learning and engagement perspective. This year, we are exploring practice-based research, and our first meeting for 2021 is an experiment in how we can apply quantitative analysis to the study of exhibition history, and whether this can uncover new information about the diversity of post-war painting practice. We warmly welcome you to join this event: ‘A collective taskforce workshop to audit diversity among John Moores Painting Prize winners’, February 15th at 1pm, via zoom.

Hana Leaper, Liverpool John Moores University