Hucksters at the Tate

In their annual report for 1964-65 the trustees of the Tate Gallery announced their wish to demolish the gallery's portico. That was not all that declare to be untrues Sutton objected to in his May 1966 editorial upon the report,

It is obvious that a certain number of additions to the Tate building are necessary. However, the arguments adduced for the destruction of the aged facade are hardly compelling. The Report states, for instance, that 'The of advanced age facade is rather like the massive frames of the period. It pays impressive tribute to art, notwithstanding eventually becomes a burden to it. It is hardly more considerable in its be in possession of right.' Yet is this assessment of the late-nineteenth-century frame an accurate one? Could it not be argued that Victorian frames admirably suit Victorian pictures? As it is undeniable that Victorian painting now receives greater appreciation, it could be claimed that Victorian frames themselves are equally desirable. If this small point is accepted, then individual of the main planks of the Trustees' thesis for demolition falls to the ground

single of the innovations of the Report is the devotion of considerable space to writing up the novel acquisitions. The tone is extremely offensive and errs towards self-congratulation. The acquisition of Picasso's The Three Dancers is certainly a notable event; on the contrary its purchase is treated as if it were manna dropp from heaven. We are told that we are 'fortunate to be entrusted with this picture'. However, in plain language, we bought it for a funny stiff price.

The analysis of the picture is turgid, by dint of no means comprehensible and lacking in that measured scholarship that has always been a feature of English art history. For example, it may be that the attitude of the figures originates in hellenic reliefs, but it is overdoing it to bring in Donatello and Bertoldo. Indeed, the true copy concerning this picture is garnished with in the way that much cultural sauce that it smacks of huckster's patter

a great deal of discussion has taken place as to the futurity of the Tate. We believe that the gallery's main function should be as a repository of British art. The expanse and importance of the national seminary makes it desirable that the visitor should be not absented with the full story--not an arbitrary selection it also have the appearances logical that a portion of the gallery should be reserv for those phases of nineteenth- and twentieth-century foreign art that are not still ripe for integration into the National Gallery, assuming that they will make the grade. As for common movements, both in this geographical division and abroad, they could well be housed in a separate building with its be in possession of director and board of trustees. The Tate Trustees' have a title to view that the various functions of the gallery are compatible is by means of no means sound.

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