Passports: Great Early Buys from the British Council
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
OSCAR WILDE’S bon mot about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing is useful to bear in mind when visiting Passports. The exhibition focuses on art bought by the British Council in the early years of an artist’s career before they gained fame and their prices escalated beyond the scope of most public collections. Despite the earnest attempts to separate price and value, Passports invites the viewer to enjoy fine work and also demonstrates that curators of national collections are able to make prudent purchases, as well as identify budding artists.
Passports is only a tiny part of the collection of the British Council, the organisation set up by the Government some 80 years ago for international educational and cultural relations. In the mid 1930s, it began purchasing works of art – from sculpture and photography to painting and drawing – and which now number more than 8,500 pieces. Most of the collection’s existence is spent overseas, intended to demonstrate the quality of British art, so this is a rare opportunity to see a small part of it in this country.
This selection was made by the artist Michael Craig-Martin who, when surveying the collection, was struck by the way the British Council anticipated rather than followed the market, purchasing work from artists in the early years of their careers that was inexpensive but which was a great help in offering financial and “official” support. By disclosing the purchase prices, the British Council is breaking the conventional taboo that these are best kept secret, particularly if they seem unreasonably high. It is a welcome lifting of the veil of secrecy around such “sensitive” issues.
As a result, Craig-Martin has selected works that were not only purchased at reasonable costs, but which have also stood the test of time. Many have gained an enviable “passport” in the number of exhibitions and the range of countries in which they have been shown. Ben Nicholson’s White Relief of 1935, acquired for £120, has been shown in 63 exhibitions in 21 countries. It is a fine example of Nicholson’s abstract work and one that has a haunting, ethereal quality.
Equally perceptive was the purchase of Lucien Freud’s Girl with Roses, bought in 1948 for the modest sum of £157 10s. Freud’s work now sells for millions. The portrait of a white faced young woman holding a rose and glazing into the distance suggests both youth and maturity, someone caught in the present and the future.
Some acquisitions were more controversial. Chris Ofili’s Painting With Shit On It was bought in 1994 when the artist was 26 for the sum of £2,000. The abstract image, made up of patterns and surfaces drawn from the African continent, stands on two elephant turds. The canvas itself has an ominous brown splash. Ofili’s response to his own cultural background is complex – as confrontational as it is celebratory.
Craig-Martin’s selection is eclectic and wide-ranging, with no unifying theme save they were works he admired and had notable pedigrees in terms of price, popularity and value. Passports is an unashamedly popular walk through the greats of contemporary art with works by David Hockney, Sarah Lucas, Anish Kapoor, Craig-Martin and others. As such, it is highly enjoyable as well as instructive. It would be fascinating to see a selection of duds from the same collection.
Emmanuel Cooper
Passports: Great Early Buys from the British Council continues until June 14
