A New Home for a Growing Collection Dawn Ades British Academy - Flipbook - Page 5
British Academy Transformation Project
A New Home for a Growing Collection
SS: Thank you so much for taking the
time to meet with us today. It’s been an
amazing journey and we are thrilled to
be at this point with the building fully
activated, the Collection in place, and
the technology applied to your
programming. When we look back at
the evolution of the project and our
transformation of the building, we
recognise a lot has changed.
SM: Yes, it is great to be here. Thank
you. The British Academy’s late night
events have started in earnest. And yet,
we are still ‘growing into’ these new
spaces! We are still learning to embrace
the incredible technology they afford us
and shifting the way we work with it.
SS: I must say it’s been brilliant
working with the Art Committee on
everything from signage to placement of
works in the Collection.
DA: Yes, indeed. And strong
opinions. We had members with strong
views on what should be on the walls
and in the Collection. People wanted
things to be contrasted, i.e. having
modern art downstairs to balance with
the digital transformation aspects of the
project.
SS: Yes, and it works. At Open House
we saw a good balance of people going to
the digital screens and going towards
the art works on the walls. People are
being drawn to each aspect equally. Tell
us about the origins of the Art
Committee and the move to Carlton
House Terrace.
DA: When the Academy moved to St
James’s here from Regents Park, the
Collection changed a lot. It was
relatively small before. When they came
here, they realized ‘these rooms are
huge’; this is in 1998.
They set up a ‘Picture Committee’ as
it was then called to address this. One of
the first relationships established was
with the National Portrait Gallery. The
initial thought was that it should be
A New Home for a Growing Collection
portraits of Fellows… so we have had
rooms with quite a lot of portraits of
Fellows. Then we grew into the Art
Committee. The previous Chair was
Keeper of Prints & Drawings at the
V&A, Michael Kaufmann, with a real
interest in British prints. So, you will
notice that we have a strong Collection
of British prints largely due to Michael.
Though, there is immediately a
difference between the art that was on
the walls here, and the old portraits, and
the growing need and belief that we
needed to have a proper Collection. One
that would complement the British
Academy and its premises in a number
of ways. That’s how it emerged.
SS: It’s a huge misconception that
you’ve always been here. 1998 isn’t that
long ago. To grow a Collection in that
time that is so fitting to the building as
well is really a triumph.
DA: The relationship with the NPG,
was crucial because they lent us an
important Collection of large portraits
including Lord Nelson and Jeremy
Bentham. They look grand and people
like those very much. That was lucky.
But otherwise, we had to look after
ourselves. We’ve managed to buy some
things – we have a modest acquisition
budget. We’ve had loans and bequests
too.
SM: The biggest bequest was from a
sociologist who was a collector of
modern art Professor Ray Pahl FBA for
instance - it’s great. There are over 20
pieces from that period; they are the
backbone of our Collection. When we
drew up an acquisition policy, we kept
that focus on modern and contemporary
art.
SM: We haven’t stuck to saying we
only want British art; but that’s a steer
we work to. We must create parameters.
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