Page 86 - Studio International - November December 1975

would be incomplete without pedagogical policies.
Creativity is thus encouraged in a special Children's Wing THE MUSEUM OF
from a very early age and there are no distinctions
between Arab and Jewish children. This is the nucleus, MODERN ART IN
and it is surrounded by the evidence of complementary
ambitions. The Islamic arts and the neighbouring
cultures of earlier ages are meticulously displayed in order OXFORD 1965-1975
to broaden perspectives. They represent a highly
successful anti-isolationist gesture — since the quality
of the Islamic material in the Ayoub Rabenou Gallery is Report by Lynda Morris
extraordinarily high, and so are the relics of the
Mesopotamian civilizations in the Neighbouring Cultures A Museum of Modern Art in Oxford was the idea of a
Pavilion. These displays stress Israel's geographical local architect, Trevor Green. It all started in 1965 with a
position on the crossroads between Egypt and the Greek £500 grant from the Arts Council. New premises were
world to the west, Mesopotamia and Persia to the east, found in Pembroke Street, and the old brewery was
the Arabian desert to the south, and Anatolia to the converted with £5,000 from the Gulbenkian Foundation.
north. Such emphatic and confessional relationships Within 9 months the Arts Council grant had grown to
bring out the nature of the choice which is the museum's £5,000, through the sympathetic intervention of Lord
contribution to the nation's life. Goodman. There was no holding Green. Pembroke
Decision-making is probably most explicit in the Street was merely a temporary home. Oxford would
display apparatus, which combines architecture with soon have a magnificent purpose-built MOMA—in fact
gardens to broadcast a special and western idea of he was already working on the plans.
modernity. The green spaces around the building embrace The time was the middle sixties, Kasmin and Robert
contemporary sculptures within their Noguchi- Fraser had galleries, Bryan Robertson was creating the
landscaped, undulating volumes, and the sequence of 'New Generation' at the Whitechapel and we were all ten
stone pavilions (architects : Professor Alfred Mansfeld years younger. Green's original plan, and hence the
and Mrs Dora Gad) shelters its collection among sparse, name, was for a museum with a permanent collection of
functional lines. The subdued light of the interiors modern art. He dashed around the art world borrowing an
preserves the supremacy of the spotlit object, but it dwells admirable collection from galleries, the Stuyvesant
on the powerful presence of the supporting walls as well ; Collection and artists. He ran the museum with the help
and these have the strength of recent engineering of one part-time secretary, and a council composed of
techniques. Through raised slits only indirect daylight friends.
penetrates the rooms and this reinforces the concrete Green organized some temporary exhibitions, but by
bunker impression : the impression of defending values 1968 the pressure had understandably led to the
and ideals. Indeed, the centrality of the museum's appointment of a full-time director, Barry Lane. He
location ensures that the militant allusions of the never officially accepted the post of director, organized
construction do not conjure up an attacking spirit. The exhibitions in full consultation with the council, and
precedent of the fortress is symbolic but it quotes the resigned in 1970 to work for the Arts Council.
ideal model's forms only for a metaphorical parallel's He was succeeded by Peter Ibsen, who had studied fine
sake; the museum is a fortress of intellectual aspirations, art at Chelsea, and after various jobs had taken an MA at
and it lacks the means of attack. It can only defend. It the Courtauld Institute under John Golding. There was a
protects the legacy of the past with some conviction that little friction about his appointment. Firstly the Arts
it may have a role to play in moulding a sense of Council as the main patrons of the gallery felt they should
belonging — which works through an allegiance to have been consulted, and secondly the Council still
emblems of cult and culture. It is impossible to achieve consisted of Green's friends. Barry Lane had left the
this without rich ancillary services : information must be gallery three months before Ibsen arrived, a gap which
provided by libraries ; fully equipped laboratories must increased administrative problems. The Arts Council
cope with the problems of conservation ; and a judicious grant was £6,000 a year. Other sources of income,
programme of temporary exhibitions must invite a including entrance fees and book sales, brought in
continuity of interest in curatorial activities. Publications another £1,500. The staff of the gallery remained one
must instruct the intelligent visitor and also record director, one secretary and one early morning cleaner.
discoveries as well as scientific advance. It is very much The Arts Council grant covered salaries and other
to the credit of the Israel Museum that during the ten overheads, which left the extras for an exhibitions
years of its existence it has succeeded in building such budget, including transport, travel, framing, printing,
a balanced whole; an organism in which separate postage and openings.
requirements assume the partial aspect of contributory Apart from money problems Ibsen had a council to
functions without posing questions about their face that, apart from one artist, had no experience of
hierarchical order. contemporary art. They reached an amicable agreement
This conception of the museum's role is altogether to operate independently. The Council thought Ibsen
different from the Centre Beaubourg's. Jerusalem was in control of finances and he naturally thought they
exploits the past to create a national pride. Paris exploits
were. In fact the relationship was not too bad : Ibsen did a
national pride to retrieve a lost past. Jerusalem pins its
good job directing the museum without opposition from
hope to the western future and Paris intends to debate it. the Council.
Jerusalem builds fortifications in a very literal sense of the In November 1971 the proposed amalgamation of
word ; Paris an allegorical glasshouse. Jerusalem has MOMA with the Bear Lane Gallery resulted in the
found a social validity for the museum ; Paris has found a resignation of Nick Waterlow, the director of Bear Lane.
museum which equates the notion of national prestige The Gallery had been founded in 1959 by Elizabeth
with the values of society — and it remains to be seen Deighton and quickly established a reasonable trade
whether these two unpredictable concepts can become selling contemporary prints to 'dons' wives'. As
synonymous in the ironic case of the arts. administrative costs rose in the late sixties the gallery
But the doubts expressed by this remark must in no way became increasingly dependent on the Arts Council, who
detract from the hope attached to any unfinished decided it would be a tidy solution to combine the two
enterprise. Opportunity has a way of creating the chance galleries, which were after all in the same street in Oxford.
which awaits realization, and it is just possible that Paris After Waterlow resigned the councils of the two
is about to provide this for Europe once again. (And the galleries were combined, under the title Modern Art
western democracies have only themselves to blame if Oxford (MAO for short). In 1972/73 they received a
their idea of a suitable place for the arts reminds one of the combined Arts Council grant of £10,000 and their
Palm House in Kew Gardens built by Richard Turner of programmes remained independent except for a kinetic
Dublin and Decimus Burton — a crystal palace for exhibition organized by Conway Lloyd Morgan and the
protecting an exotic crop from the harsh realities of a Denise René Gallery in May 1972, and a Richard Smith
northern climate).
show in 1973. Ibsen had been against the amalgamation
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