ART OF THE POSSIBLE How one transformational gift founded the Sainsbury Centre on the UEA campus.
As a bachelor in my early twenties,” said Robert Sainsbury, “I bought my first work of art solely because it evoked an immediate visual response.” That first purchase was in 1929. Eight years later, Robert married Lisa and the couple set about amassing one of the greatest private art collections of the 20th century. After the Second World War, they set up a dedicated art account with which, on relatively modest budgets, they acquired remarkable pieces – relying on eye and judgment rather than spending power. Their refreshingly authentic approach would lead to personal friendships with great figures such as Henry Moore when he was a young and unknown artist, Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti and Lucie Rie. THE BIRTH OF AN IDEA Almost 50 years, and 570 works of art later, Robert and Lisa decided that they wanted others to enjoy their collection as much as they had. Their art was given to the University of East Anglia and the Sainsbury Centre was born. The Centre is now one of the most prominent university art galleries in Britain and an internationally-renowned home for art in Norwich. Ghislaine Wood, Acting Director at the Sainsbury Centre, reveals how, to this day, Robert and Lisa’s wishes define the way that visitors engage with the artworks on display. “The Sainsburys wanted people to be able to view the pieces just as they had been able to in their own house,” she explains, “which was a unique way of showing art in 1978. Their collection is not divided up by geographical region or ethnographic group. There is an equality of treatment across the arts – so you can see a Francis Bacon painting next to a fang head, with no distinction between how the two are displayed or interpreted. “The Sainsburys chose Norman Foster, a relatively young architect who had never designed a public building
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THE S A I NS B URY S CO NC EI V ED O F A NEW K I ND O F MUS EUM – A NEW WAY OF S HOWI NG A RT. before being commissioned to design the Sainsbury Centre. The building is in itself a magnificent gift to the University and region. Their vision was for the space to become a hub for interdisciplinary learning on the campus. We’re at the end of the Lasdun Wall, and the idea was that the Centre would be a place for scientists and artists to meet. Really, it changed the way that people understood the modern museum. A DIVERSE HISTORY OF ART “It’s such a special collection of pictures and objects. We have 5,000 years of human creativity on display, reflecting regions across the world. They gave the University some of the most significant collections of the work of Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti and Henry Moore – giants of the post-war art world. The collection is priceless and we are deeply grateful to the Sainsburys for their extraordinary gift. “It was always their wish to keep the collection as a whole, which is something other institutions may not have been able to facilitate. That’s part of why they chose UEA. It just goes to show the incredible energy there must have been around the University even back then – a greater sense of freedom that you can still see and feel today.” u
