Curating Archives, Archiving Curating
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Curating Archives, Archiving Curating Georgia, Nayia Yiakoumaki Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Fine Art Goldsmiths, University of London Octo ber 2009 The work presented in the thesis is the candidate's own. Abstract This thesis investigates the concept of archives and their role as a source for curatorial work practice. It starts with an examination of Jacques Derrida's concept of the archive in order to claim that every reading of the archive alters the archive. It examines the curating of archive material and compares it to a historiographical operation upon the archive itself. Moreover, it describes curating from the archive as a process concomitant with the three main constituents of Paul Ricoeur's historiography: 'The Documentary Phase', 'Explanation/ Understanding' and 'The Historian's Representation', as developed in Memory, History, Forgetting (2004). From the conceptualisation of this tripartite process the thesis proceeds by arguing that the curatorial practice on archives is an expansive gesture that opens their contents to numerous interpretations. The Whitechapel Gallery Archive is introduced as the case study here. More specifically, the thesis analyses archival material pertaining to Pablo Picasso and the painting Guernica, which was exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1939. The series of events to which this archive material refer, have been reactivated through artist Goshka Macuga's 2009 commission The Nature of the Beast at the Whitechapel. The thesis proves that a curator working through archival material permanently alters the constitution of the archive, as well as the subsequent interpretations of its material. Moreover, it is argued that the curator's intervention in the archive should be re-deposited within it as a means for the archive's potential expansion. Through the sustained process of curating archives and the successive re archivisation of curatorial practices, the thesis presents the case for a powerful, self-reflective instrument of analysis. 2 Acknowledgements I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisors Professor Janis Jefferies and Dr. Andrew Renton, who have contributed their knowledge and supported me throughout my thesis. To IKY, State Scholarships Foundation for their financial support in the first three and a half years of the project. I would like to thank Janeen Haythornthwaite, for trusting me with the Whitechapel Gallery Archive material and for encouraging my initial browsing; Katrina Schwarz, for the careful proofreading of my thesis; Ann Schlachter, for her comments and suggestions on the text and Rena Yiakoumaki, for her unconditional help in all aspects of this endeavour. Finally my heartfelt thanks go to my daughters Isabella and Eva and to my partner Nuno, for countless reasons. 3 For my parents, and my brother. 4 Table of Contents Declaration 1 Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Contents 5 List of Illustrations 8 Introduction 11 Chapter One: Introducing Archives 20 What are archives? 21 Two types of archives: Victoria and Albert Museum Print Room 37 Whitechapel Gallery Archive 48 Differences between archives 57 Chapter Two: The Whitechapel Experience 61 Browsing in the archive - A Fliineur in Whitechapel 62 The researcher's fantasy - my own fantasy 75 Experiencing the Whitechapel Gallery Archive 88 Chapter Three: The Picasso Material 104 Guernica at the Whitechapel 105 Inventory of material 120 Facts and facts 148 Chapter Four: The Curatorial Intervention 156 Curators' positions 157 Curating archives: Whitechapel Gallery Archive 166 Curating archives and history 185 The Picasso evidence as curatorial ground 191 Chapter Five: Curating Archives, Archiving Curating 206 The Whitechapel Project: A momentous redevelopment 207 The Bloomberg Commission: Goshka Macuga: The Nature of the Beast 218 Events 221 Curating archives, archiving curating 241 Conclusion 254 Bibliography and other sources 264 5 Appendices Short Histories: Appendix I, A brief history of the Victoria and Albert Museum, ed. 2002 278 Appendix II, A brief history of the Whitechapel Gallery, ed. 2002 280 Interviews: Appendix III, Nayia Yiakoumaki interviews Jon Newman, archivist of the Lambeth Archives, February 2005 283 Appendix IV, Nayia Yiakoumaki interviews Janeen Haythorthwaite, volunteer archivist at Whitechapel Gallery, July 2004 295 Guernica the tapestry: Appendix V, Information on the Guernica tapestries, compiled by Eleanor Nairne, intern at Whitechapel Gallery, September-December 2009. 303 Appendix VI, Information on Picasso's tapestries at Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate, compiled by Eleanor Nairne 305 The Nature of the Beast: Appendix VII, Text from the Whitechapel Gallery's 2009 season guide 309 Appendix VIII, Letter from Iwona Blazwick, Director at Whitechapel Gallery to Mrs Nelson A. Rockefeller; loan request of Guernica tapestry 311 Appendix IX, Anthony Spira, Curator at Whitechapel Gallery interviews Goshka Macuga, artist. Excerpt from the draft transcript, February 2009 314 Appendix X, Goshka Macuga's invitation to Gallery visitors to use the roundtable during The Nature of the Beast, April 2009 321 Appendix XI, Whitechapel staff email about the roundtable discussion to launch The Nature of the Beast, April 2009 322 Appendix XII, List of the films screened for The Nature of the Beast, April-June 2009 323 Responses to The Nature of the Beast: Appendix XIII, The Nature of the Beast roundtable inquiries 325 Appendix XIV, Email from Nicola Sim to Goshka Macuga 347 Appendix XV, Summary of roundtable meetings & visitor inquiries 349 Appendix XVI, Information on the Symposium on Guernica, adapted from the Whitechapel Gallery website 358 Appendix XVII, Programme of the Symposium on Guernica and Michael Rosen's introductory speech, September 2009 360 Appendix XVIII, Michael Rosen and Nayia Yiakoumaki, early correspondence 364 6 Appendix XIX, Proposal by Eleanor Nairne for a television documentary 368 Appendix XX, Email correspondence between Cassandra Needham, Exhibitions Organiser, and Marlene Sidaway, Secretary, International Brigade Memorial Trust 372 Appendix XXI, Letter from Mike Jones to Cassandra Needham 376 Appendix XXII, Email from Marshall Mateer to Cassandra Needham 378 Appendix XXIII, Letter from Ron Bill to Director/Curator 380 Appendix XXIV, Email Correspondence, Nick Rankin and Cassandra Needham 383 Appendix XXV, Email from Giovanna Bloor to Cassandra Needham 386 Appendix XXVI, Email correspondence, Mark Hartley and Cassandra Needham 387 Appendix XXVII, Email correspondence, Frank Cassey and Gary Haines, Archivist 390 Goshka Macuga: Appendix XXVIII, Goshka Macuga Curriculum Vitae 395 Appendix XXIX, Press Release of I am Become Death at Kunsthalle Basel, January 2009 403 Appendix XXX, Email from Goshka Macuga to Beth Chaplin, Director's Assistant 408 Appendix XXXI, Information on the group exhibition 'Textiles Art and the Social Fabric', featuring new work by Goshka Macuga, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerp, Belgium 410 Appendix XXXII, Directors' Files: Bryan Robertson, scanned correspondence about proposed Picasso exhibition, 1951. Enclosed CD 7 List of Illustrations Figure 1 and 2: The staircase and corridor leading to the Whitechapel's archive storeroom. The storeroom is visible beyond the open door, 2004. Photograph Nayia Yiakoumaki. 50 Figure 3: The repository where the Whitechapel Gallery Archive was stored until 2005. Photographs Nayia Yiakoumaki. 52 Figure 4 and 5: Reading rooms at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Cairo (left) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (right). 58 Figure 6: Textiles Study Room, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 58 Figure 7: Physiologie du Flfineur (1841) by French writer and journalist Louis Adrien Huart (1813-1865) depicting a jlfineur in the background. 71 Figure 8, 9 and 10: Views of the Spanish pavilion in the 1937 International Exposition: Alexander Calder by his work Mercury Fountain, with Guernica in the background; Picasso in front of Guernica; view of the Spanish pavilion from the patio. 107 Figure 11: Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937, oil on canvas, 3.49 x 7.76 m, courtesy Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Spain. 110 Figure 12: Nell)s Chronicle press cutting, 9 January 1939, Whitechapel Gallery Archive. 126 Figure 13: Clement Attlee, speaking at the official opening of Guernica, 31 December 1938, Whitechapel Gallery Archive, Roland Penrose Archives. 129 Figure 14: Clement Attlee, official opening of Guernica, 31 December 1938, Whitechapel Gallery Archive, Roland Penrose Archives. 130 Figure 15: Clement Attlee with two unnamed men at the official opening of Guernica, 31 December 1938, Whitechapel Gallery Archive, Roland Penrose Archives. 131 Figure 16: Demonstrations in protest of the Spanish Civil War, 1937, Whitechapel Gallery Archive. 136 8 Figure 17: Finsbury Borough Council Election brochure, featuring the Communist candidates for the Finsbury Council elections, 12 May 1949, Whitechapel Gallery Archive. 142 Figure 18: Student handbooks from the Propaganda Art Course run by Norman King, Whitechapel Gallery Archive. 144 Figure 19: Letter from Richard Taylor, Cultural Officer, American Embassy, to Bryan Robertson, Director, Whitechapel Gallery, 18 December 1952, Whitechapel Gallery Archive. 146 Figure 20: Letter from Bryan Robertson, Director, Whitechapel Gallery, to Richard Taylor, Cultural Officer, American Embassy, 30 December 1952, Whitechapel Gallery Archive. 147 Figure 21: Views from 'Enthusiasm', Neil Cummings, Marysia Lewandawska, Whitechapel Gallery, 2005. 202 Figure 22: Whitechapel High