Page 32 - Studio International - December 1967

established as to be in any case the most expensive— and communications-media abstraction. It has its small
should be represented by more than one work. Not only but authoritative representation of pop and the kind of
for the sake of establishing more clearly, within the abstract field-painting which has grown from Situation.
collection's public and representative function, the indi- But it is mercifully free from programmatic groupings
vidual idiom of that artist, but in order to assure younger or an imposed sense of history.
and less established artists of some continuity of support In the end, though, why and for whom? The 'official'
from the Foundation over a period of years. At present patronage of museums and public galleries, like private
twenty-six artists are represented by two works each and patronage, has its self-defined purpose. Public patron-
eight artists by three (not including Richard Smith, who age, the more or less disinterested use of commercial
is exceptionally represented by four) ; it would presum- profits, needs to have its purpose spelled out: mere benevo-
ably be in evening out these categories that most of the lence tends to sound unconvincing and I suspect that is
`topping up' process would be concerned. I have stressed why, in the absence of any natural tradition of
the intrinsic quality of the collection and this is perhaps cultural responsibility in this country, the much talked of
the most valuable representative function it can serve— and desirable rapprochement between industry and the
not merely to give an accurate flavour of what British arts has not yet come to much. The Stuyvesant Collec-
painting was like in the early 60s, but to show some of its tion, however, within the Foundation's general purpose of
most ambitious and authoritative achievements (I use making enlightened use of advertising money by giving it
the past tense, for now that it is virtually complete, the the elements of a social service, was conceived wholly as a
collection will begin to acquire, as intended, something of public gesture. It is not, in other words, a boardroom
a period value). If it implies anything about its period, it collection or an 'improving' amenity for company premises.
is that the early 60s has been a time of individual consoli- It is probably destined eventually (although plans are
dation in the wake of more recognizably concerted not yet settled) for permanent loan to a provincial
movements. It catches the tail end of the transitional and gallery, with the right to re-exhibit it at specified inter-
less doctrinaire aspect of pop, together with its more vals. Meanwhile, after showing at the Tate, it will supply
sophisticated personal developments both in figuration the opening exhibition for the refurbished WHITWORTH
GALLERY in Manchester and for another two or three
years be toured in Europe, in provincial centres in this
country and possibly in South Africa. This kind of
role, as public cultural amenity, it has been fulfilling since
1965, when museum directors were invited to borrow
from the collection as it was then exhibited at a halfway
stage at Whitechapel. And it follows on from the more
direct sponsorship of the young artist and of new or un-
familiar work which was considered the collection's main
purpose while it was assembling, and which was
the purpose of the three Foundation-sponsored New
Generation Exhibitions and of its continuing series of
concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra. (Drama,
particularly television drama, and poetry were included
with music and the visual arts among the original objects
of the Foundation when it was set up in 1963. They have
been relegated, at least for the moment, to the back-
ground for the same reason as sculpture was omitted
from the collection— to allow a more full concentration of
available resources; a separate sculpture collection, now
that the painting collection is near completion, is a future
possibility.)
Patronage of the young artist on a generous scale
can be a delicate exercise for the nice conscience. Can
it wholly avoid the sense of patronizing? The directors of
the Foundation rejected the idea of sponsored competi-
tions as too invidious, and offered six travel bursaries at
Henry Mundy, Grooved 1962
the first New Generation exhibition. They were not alto-
Oil on board, 63 x 96 in.
gether satisfied that that was the solution and decided
'At this time I liked the idea of being able to start the painting
with a loose scurry and finish it with a controlled, tightly painted that direct purchase best suited their intentions as some-
area like the blue disc. But now the looser parts seem to me to thing which could help the artist both to a market and to
to be too atmospheric and the whole thing all too obvious.' an audience. They had bought from the exhibition but,
from then on, the building of the collection was left
entirely to the discretion of the appointed purchasers.
A generous public gesture and a conscientiously fair and
sensible policy have provided us with the best concen-
trated collection of recent painting in this country. q