Friday, 3 August 2007

The Barnes has had the inestimable advantage of a building which is unique and uniquely suited to its collection. Too many public galleries have an awful sameness about them. The tragedy of the Turner Bequest in London is that it has never been housed appropriately, but only in the unsuitable wings built under the auspices of Duveen and Clore. (www.jmwturner.org ). There is also the question of place. Some collections are suited to particular places and cannot be wilfully uprooted and planted anywhere that happens to be convenient without damage to their identity. The recent history of the Barnes is an illustration of what happens when the philistines get control.

1 comment:

goatman said...

An interesting observation about collections being suited to a particular place. I would be pleased to see the Turner collection near Mortlake terrace were I to visit, as would many I expect.
Thanks for the visit to my post and the "inside" information. I was hoping to find a more detailed example of the painting to post; where one could make out some of the figures. I would predict that the air around London at this time would be a bit hazy though, what with the burning of fossil fuels prevalent.