Page 88 - Studio International - November December 1975

Everything hangs on this point, particularly increasing Beuys, A Secret Block for a Secret Person in Ireland.
the staff. He was ashamed to continue inviting artists Beuys had almost refused to show at Oxford because of
on such a pathetically low budget, and was hardly the condition of the building. By the time the show
ever able to visit London because of the pressure of opened the roof no longer leaked, the building had been
work. He had simply become exhausted. A more reguttered, rewired and repainted. The upper gallery
apprehensive note appeared in his attitude to recent work, floor had been resurfaced, painted and provided with
which he found was making increasing concessions to new lighting. A new store room had been built and by
commercialism. He left Oxford around the time that moving the previous office a new small gallery had been
Gallery House closed, and felt it was the end of an open, made at the back of the middle gallery. The new gallery
idealistic era. The future would need a different approach, was used during the Beuys installation to show
the artists would require more professional conditions documentation and multiples by the artist.
and he was not the person to provide them. Serota heard about the Beuys exhibition when
Nick Serota was appointed the new director. He Caroline Tisdall rang up and mentioned that Beuys had a
studied art history at Cambridge and the Courtauld big collection of drawings that he would like to form the
Institute, also under John Golding. When he left basis of a major exhibition of his work in Britain.
university he became a regional arts officer at the Arts Beuys already had a messianic reputation as a result of
Council and later became an exhibitions organizer. Richard Demarco's early pioneering of his work in
Amongst the exhibitions he worked on he was most successive years at Edinburgh and the later lectures he
significantly influenced by the New Art show, gave at the Tate and the Whitechapel in 1972. He held an
organised by Anne Seymour. eight-hour seminar towards the end of the exhibition
When he arrived in Oxford the first priority was the that was crowded until 10 pm with art students from all
renovation of the building. The museum closed until the over England.
following spring and work began with a £3,000 Arts The exhibition travelled to the Scottish National
Council improvement grant. The Arts Council annual Gallery in Edinburgh, the ICA in London and to museums
grant was increased from £10,000 (which had also in Belfast and Dublin, a Celtic tour. It helped the
included the Bear Lane Gallery) to £12,500. In 1974/75 finances of the exhibition, which had involved expensive
it was again increased to £17,000 and the current grant is insurance. Each gallery paid between £800 and £1,200,
£30,000. This is a modest figure in comparison to the approximately one-fifth of the cost. Oxford published an
ICA grant of £70,000 or the Serpentine, who spent extensive catalogue underwritten by Feldman, one of
£25,000 on the video exhibition last summer. But Beuys' New York dealers, who prepaid for 1,200 copies
perhaps a more illuminating contrast is provided by of the 4,000 edition. The Goethe Institute paid for the
photographic plates. Despite limited sales at the other
galleries only a few copies of the catalogue remained
unsold. An enviable situation for even the Tate Gallery or
Arts Council. Some informal figures from the Tate
quote the cost of the Kenneth Martin and Richard Smith
catalogues at £10,000. So far they have recouped £1,000
from sales.
The Beuys exhibition was followed by smaller shows
in separate areas of the building. In the upper gallery
was an exhibition of Black Paintings by Bob Law dating
from 1965 to 1970. Serota felt that the work should have
been shown years before, and that Law was an example
of a British artist who has suffered from a lack of both
private and public opportunities to show. The Black
Paintings were interesting in the development of 'New
Painting' in Europe during the seventies. The exhibition
was visited and eventually resulted in support for Law's
work by Panza di Biumo, the most important collector
in Europe and a powerful advocate of the revival of
minimal painting in the early seventies.
In the middle gallery was an historical exhibition of
Art and Language, Middle Gallery 1975 sculptures by students of Rodchenko at Moscow School
of Art and Design. The exhibition, Obmokhu 1921,
similar European galleries. The Eindhoven museum in consisted of reconstructions from a photograph made by
Holland, has a similarly progressive programme under its students at Newcastle University. The sculptures were
new director Rudi Fuchs, who controls an overall complemented by a slide show on the Russian
budget of £500,000. Oxford's overall budget is £40,000. Constructivist movement.
Serota's priority is to reserve the largest possible amount In the small gallery was a second exhibition of Hamish
for exhibitions. The current exhibitions' budget is Fulton, A solo walk from the top to the bottom of the
£12,000, 30% of the overall budget. At Eindhoven the lsland/Duncansby Head to Lands End/Scotland Wales
exhibitions' budget is £50,000, 10% of the budget. In England/A complete walking journey of 1022 miles in 47
this country the Arnolfini has an overall budget of days/August 31 to October 16 1973. Fulton's gallery in
£92,338 and an exhibitions' budget of just under £5,000, London, Situation, had recently closed and he had
approximately 6%. However they organize a large nowhere to show recent work in England. A remarkable
programme of film, dance and music, and the inclusion of situation for an artist who was showing regularly in
these activities would extend the figure to 1 6%. museums and commercial galleries throughout Europe.
Serota also had to face a £3,000 deficit and a Oxford has a split personality. From the English
demoralized Council. When the Bear Lane Gallery finally viewpoint it is part of a network of provincial galleries, and
closed in December 1973, there were bitter resignations it is from this angle that one considers the historical
by members of the MAO Council. shows, the educational activities and the finance. If one
He has abolished entrance charges and concentrated looks at the artists and the reputation of MOMA it must be
on expanding the membership. The charge is £3 a year seen in an international context. It is England's link in the
and £1.50 for students. Members receive regular mailers chain of progressive public spaces which help determine
and invitations to private views. They also get reductions European art. The conception of these galleries is based
on books and catalogues. Angela Serota was the on the German Kunsthalle system. It was Johannes
manageress of the bookshop at the Hayward Gallery and Cladders at Münchengladbach whom Serota mentioned
she has developed the Oxford bookshop so successfully as the most important influence on his attitude and
that the turnover last year was £2,500. programme. Cladders established an international
The exhibition programme opened in April 1974 with reputation in the late sixties with early major exhibitions
an immensely popular exhibition of drawings by Joseph of artists, most of whom were connected with the
240