Galleries - September 2010

British and Irish Art 1945-1951: From War to Festival by Adrian Clark. 240pp, 48 b/w ills, Paul Holberton Publishing, hdbk £30.00 There have been plenty of studies devoted to the patronage of the arts and the nature of critical tastes, but nearly all of them seem reluctant to deal with anything much later than the mid-19th C. Social histories of 20th C. Art, certainly of British Post-War Art, are, as a consequence, remarkably thin on the ground – James Hyman's Battle for Realism (2001) and Margaret Garlake's Artists and Patrons in Post-War Britain (2001) about the only books on the subject of which I am aware. Both are written by art historians and thus reflect a particular concern with the critical and stylistic battles of the day, rather than with any analysis of the institutional, social, almost anthropological aspects that underlay the worlds they are trying to describe – qualities which ‘make’ this new volume by Adrian Clark. A City man and arts journalist by background ( The British Art Journal ), he takes a very cool, concentrated look at a short but crucial moment in British art history – the six years between the end of World War II and the Festival of Britain when British art moved essentially from a world of private to public patronage and finally started getting to grips with the dread 'Modern Art'! As even now, in an altogether more commercially oriented art scene, it was dominated by a handful of enormously powerful figures – Sir Colin Anderson (patron and committee-hound), Philip James (Director of Art at the newly- founded Arts Council), Kenneth Clark (everywhere!) – among them. Mostly public school and Oxbridge (as the fascinating lists at the back of the book make clear), you feel as much pity for the artists of the day trying to make their way in such a world, and still keep working, as you do now. There has to be a better way . . . Nicholas Usherwood BOOK review MATHAF GALLERY 24 MOTCOMB STREET LONDON SW1X 8JU Tel: + 44 (0)20 72350010 w ww.mathafgallery.com Frederick Arthur Bridgman, 'Jeune Orientale et sa Biche au Patio' oil on canvas, 26½ x 31½ inches ORIENTALIST PAINTINGS London’s most prestigious GALLERIES FOR HIRE La Galleria Pall Mall i s situated next to Trafalgar Sq & The National Gallery with 165 sq mts of gallery space on Ground floor, height 4mts, 18mts display windows & movable Panels. ROA Gallery · 150 sq mts divided on three floors, 3mts window onto Pall Mall. Both galleries are fully equipped , we have a large mailing list and give support to all our exhibitions. The outdoor covered Arcade space is perfect for the evening preview parties. 5b Pall Mall · Royal Opera Arcade · London SW1Y 4UY Tel: +44 (0)20 7930 8069 enquiries@lagalleria.org – www.lagalleria.org