Page 42 - Studio International - February 1965

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pleasure and interest in painting. At the time, however,
the disasters of war loomed larger than its compensa­
tions: the sight and sound of the Tate being shattered
by bombing and the interior reduced by continuous
rain to a morass; the sight and the smell of the ruined
building after the war had ended, dark and dank
beneath the tarpaulin covers which replaced the glass
roofing. I wondered how, in the face of ferocious
competition for available resources in labour and
materials. it would ever be rebuilt: I wondered how,
without any administrative staff at all. the pictures could
ever be brought back. cleaned. reframed and placed on
view, and how a new administration could possibly
be created.
The Tate which rose from the ruins is to all intents
and purposes a new creation. Without the war such a
completely new start would hardly have been imagin­
able. Before it the art world had not so much a reasoned
attachment to tradition as a generations-old dislike of

nll radical change. A single incident, scarcely conceiv­
Henri Matisse able today, will illustrate the caution which the
1869-1954 prevailing conservatism imposed even upon the most
The Back I enlightened. One of the first foreign works to enter the
Bronze 74 in. high
This relief was probably made 1n collection after I became director was a painting by
1909. Between that time and about Kandinsky, made in 1910. entitled Battle. It is a pre­
1930 Matisse made three other dominantly abstract work. The trustees advised me not
versions. all on the same scale. to show it until such time as other abstract works had
The Tate owns a complete set. All
four were bought from the Matisse been acquired They were fully aware of the painting's
family between 1955 and 1957 intrinsic qualities and of its historic importance: their
advice was prompted solely by solicitude for their new
2 director. They hoped I would not challenge the prevail­
Matthew Smith ing conservatism too abruptly. Even Recumbent Figure.
1 879-1 959 1938, by Henry Moore was accepted just afterwards in
Apples or, a dish 191 9
18 X 21½ in. a similarly cautious spirit although the sculptor had
The earliest but one of the ten warm admirers among the trustees.
paintings by this artist 1n the Yet during the war we acquired works by Klee. Ernst
collection. Bought 1n 1947 Kokoschka, Munch. and Chagall. which were shown
74