ART on TYNESIDE John Millard

NORDI S K MU SE OLO G I 1995•1 , S. 53 - 62

ART ON TYNESIDE john Millard

Many people will not visit art galleries because they think they are boring, and that art is not meant for them. In Britain, and I believe in Nordic countries as well, art has been made the preserve ofan educated elite and the majority feel excluded from its mysteries. Distrust ofart and lack ofinterest in art galleries has even been encouraged by art curators and art historians. It is as if we have conspired to ensure that art galleries are unpopular, and this is a situation which is ofcourse wholly unacceptable to someone like me who is paid by a local council and who believes that art has an important role to play in peoples lives. As curator ofthe city art gallery, I do not work for an educa ted elite but for all the people ofNewcastle.

One of the tools which we art curators use Edwardian building, but it is capable to put people off art is the way we display when necessary of providing galleries that art. We have developed a very intimida look like big white boxes to show modern ting way of showing paintings which is art. The exhibition The Experience of designed to emphasise their formal quali Painting in 1989 was of large contempora ties. Paintings are well spaced out on long ry British abstract paintings which are white walls in huge rooms, with «room to meant to be shown in this way. But we breathe» and minimum «interference» also took care to provide a friendly carpe from other things around them. This way ted room with chairs and books, photo of displaying art is now accepted as the graphs and displays of material from the norm, and variations are treated with con artists' studios. tempt, but it is only a recent and rather Other contemporary artists need a com unusual method of display. Art can also be pletely different sort of display. The artist shown in a more friendly way, and with Jim Whiting makes big installations with more understanding of how things were numerous figures which are powered by shown in the past. compressed air and bounced around the The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle galleries at the Laing Art Gallery. upon Tyne is the main art gallery in the The Art on Tyneside display which ope North East of England. It was founded in ned in July 1991, shows pottery, glass, 1901 and opened in 1904. It is a fine paintings, silver and costumes in recrea- Part ofa kinetic installation by the artist Jim Whiting at Laing Art gallery. A RT O N T YN E S IDE

tions of rooms, with models, interactive ventions of modern art gallery display. 55 exhibits and information putting them Instead of taking a great leap of the imagi into context. It was meant to attract some nation, in the end the curators took only a of the many people who believe that art tiny step. galleries are not for them, and it has incre It occurred to us that historical displays ased the gallery's visitor numbers by 38%. might help to shake loose these modern Two other important new art displays display conventions. An exhibition of which opened in England in 1991 were a work by a Victorian artist in the North new extension to the National Gallery in East of England (Ralph Hedley: Tyneside London, which shows Renaissance pain Painte1; 1990-1), used a historical style of tings, and a re-display of fine and applied presentation to make it feel more friendly art collections in Kelvingrove Museum and attractive. The entrance was like a and Art Gallery in Glasgow. fairground stall, and through it was a dark The National Gallery extension cost £35 tunnel with photographs and sound 1/2M. given by Lord Sainsbury and his effects. On the other side of the tunnel, brothers Simon and Timothy Sainsbury, the paintings were presented in Victorian and the architect was Robert Venturi of style, as if the visitor had gone back in the Philadelphia firm of Venturi, Scott time to a Victorian gallery. People enjoyed Brown and Associates. To reach the pain this bit of drama and the pictures were tings, visitors must trek along immense shown more as the artist originally inten corridors to the lifts or up huge grey stair ded, crowded together with many double cases where the names of great hung. Renaissance painters are carved in letters Late in 1991 an exhibition Palaces of of heroic proportions. The galleries are Art, which opened at Dulwich Picture Victorian in spite of their modern details, Gallery in London and then travelled to and the Sainsbury Wing is an elevated the National Gallery of Scotland, took the temple of the arts. Even before the visitor history of art displays as its subject. It was gets to the art it has been put out of reach evidence of an increasing interest in how on a pedestal, and this is particularly inap art had been shown in the past, and revea propriate for the little domestic devotional led how often in the past paintings were paintings from northern Europe. Such meant to be part of the furnishing of an paintings need an intimate and friendly interior rather, than to be seen in isolati setting, and do not look good in an envi on. ronment so divorced from everyday life. Recent research has given more informa In Glasgow, art from different periods tion about how art was shown in New and in different media was brought toget castle in the past. Newspaper pictures of a her in new displays with the themes Polytechnic Exhibition in Newcastle in Classicism, Realism and Spirituality. 1848, show an extremely lively style of Curators made a real attempt to break display, with paintings shown crammed away from art historical approach which together in ornate interiors, along with would appeal only to the specialist, but stuffed birds, fountains, a miniature canal the result conforms to the powerful con- with model ships and many other things. JOHN MILLARD

18th. cent111y Newcastle silver in a traditional display, now replaced by 'Art on Tyneside'.

In 1870 the Central Exchange Art Gallery Through the Bewick Club, local painters was opened in the middle of Newcastle. dominated the artistic life of the city for One of its owners Thomas Pallister Barkas over twenty years. Their classes, outings was an expert in everything from spiritua and annual dinners were run like a jovial lism to stenography, and his wide range of men's club, and their exhibitions showed interests was reflected in the Gallery's pro paintings stacked up the walls in an infor gramme. He put on concerts, displays of mal mixture of work by amateur and pro ghostly apparitions, and travelling acro fessional artists. bats, as well as art exhibitions. The era of the Bewick Club in New Rich local art patrons and collectors castle was finally ended with the opening started an exhibition organisation in of the Laing Art Gallery, which quickly 1878, called the Arts Association of became the main exhibiting centre in the Newcastle upon Tyne. It was intended to city. Early photographs show the Vic show art with a loftier tone, but it lasted torian style of hang and the liberal use of only a few years, and in 1883 it was repla plants in the hallways. ced by a society organised by artists and From the beginning the Laing Art called the Bewick Club after the Tyneside Gallery collected pottery, glass, costume master wood-engraver Thomas Bewick. and metalwork, as well as paintings and ART ON TYNESIDE

sculpture. By the 1970s works of art in Metalwork, Textiles and so on, and was 57 different media were shown in separate the model for curation and display of col areas. There were separate displays for sil lections throughout the country. It did ver, glass, ceramics, watercolours and cos not matter whether these distinctions were tume, all in sets of cases with the galleries useful to the visitor. There were adminis blacked-out above them. These austere tratively convenient and that was enough. displays were really only of interest to a Art on Tyneside was to bring all these small number of collectors, and they were collections together in one coherent dis designed to reflect the way that museums play which would appeal to wider audien are organised rather than the visitors' ces. The needs of potential visitors were of requirements. prime importance in the design of the dis The Victoria and Albert Museum in play. As soon as possible the designer, London had departments of Ceramics, Laury Redman of Redman Design Associ-

The entrance to the 'Art on Tyneside' display, with a mural by the artist Barrie Ormsby and a team of Tyneside people. The black floor track is designed far visually-impaired visitors, and on the right visitors can design a classical building using magnetic pieces.

ates, produced a model of the display begin a trip through a chronological series which was shown to a group of disability of rooms. They appear in cartoons in each consultants. They produced a detailed room in the display and help visitors to report on what would be needed to cater use interactive exhibits. Text in each room for people with a range of disabilities. At tells the story of art in its historical con the same time the Laing's education offi text in a total of about 1,500 words. cer was discussing the display with tea There are leaflets giving the text of these chers so that the display would appeal a panels in Gujarati, Urdu and Cantonese, new audience of 8-12 year old children. the main languages apart from English The display itself is introduced by a used by residents of Newcastle. mural by the artist Barrie Ormsby who The paintings, prints, watercolours, worked with a group of Tyneside people. glass, silver, costume and ceramics are set It is large and colourful and contains in historical settings, like an 18th century numerous portraits of Tyneside artists, coffee shop, craft workshops, and a writers, and famous local characters, Victorian gallery. The rooms gradually get together with many local buildings and bigger through the display to give the monuments. impression, without using words, that At the entrance door are two cartoon more was happening as time progressed characters, the children Tom and Rosie, and more different types of art-works were who appear throughout the display. They being produced. The Victorian art gallery travel with the visitor back 400 years to is based on the Central Exchange Art ART O N TY NES IDE

Gallery in Newcastle, and has large mir Throughout the display there are inter 59 rors to give the impression of an immense actives which keep the interest of children. space. A figure representing Thomas At one of them, visitors design a decora Pallister Barkas begins a slide show as visi ted glass goblet; at another the parts of a tors walk in and are picked up by an infra classical facade are arranged on a magnetic red detector. panel. There are also buttons to press to

The 'Talking Tugboat' gives the answers to a quiz for children. Above is a scale model of Newcastle's most famous landmark, the Tyne Bridge. JOHN MILLARD

On the opposite page: Prints and paintings hang on the walls ofthe 18th. CentlllJ' Coffee Shop.

Mirrors give the impres sion ofextm space in the Victorian Art Gallery.

activate short videos giving contextural special features like a Braille version of an images and music of the 1920s and 1930s. 18th century newspaper, and three An innovative rubber floor track was «Thermaforms», sculpted versions of pic developed for visually-impaired visitors. It tures designed for blind people. can be used with a tape guide which takes In one of the later sections is a «Talking visitors round the display pointing out Tugboat» which has three telephones. On ART ON TYNE SIDE

61 JOHN MILLARD

62 them v1s1tors listen to actors playing Since this lecture was given the Art on artists, craftspeople and architects and Tyneside display has won a national giving the answers to a role-play quiz for award, The Gulbenkian Award for the children. Art on Tyneside also emphasises Museum with the Best Provision for Dis that art is not only from the past, and abled Visitors, and a British Telecom encourages people to participate in art Award as the best exhibition in the North activities. At the end of the display is a East region. small exhibition area for contemporary work from Tyneside, with changing dis plays of sculpture by local artists which visitors are encouraged to touch, and pro jects from schools and hospitals. There is * This paper was first presented at a seminar, «Stage also a short video starring the famous performance Exhibition», held by the Danish Tyneside actor Tim Healy explaining that Museum Training Institute in Holstebro, there is a lot of art to see outside the Denmark, September 1992 Laing Art Gallery, on the streets of All illustrations provided by the Laing Art Gallery. Tyneside and in other art galleries and museums. He points out fine buildings, churches and public sculpture, and encou john Millard er kunsthistoriker og Senior Curator ved rages visitors to try out painting, embroi Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle. dery, pottery or some other art activity. Adr: Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne In the year that Art on Tyneside opened NEJ BAG, UK(England). Fax +'{4-912220952 at the Laing Art Gallery, visitor numbers increased by 38%, and many visitors have commented on the more friendly atmos phere. The uniforms of attendant staff have been changed from a formal jacket and tie, to a «polo» shirt with a logo embroidered on the chest. A cafe has also helped to make the gallery feel more accessible. On 19 August 1992, the Newcastle Even ing Chronicle published a guide to muse ums in the North-East of England giving each a rating for its appeal to adults and to children. The Laing Art Gallery was the only museum to get a top score in both categories. It is surely unusual for an art gal lery to outstrip all other sorts of museum in its appeal to both adults and children. It is certainly the first time the Laing Art Gallery has won a popularity contest.