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Alex Farquharson, the director of Tate Britain, opens up on the thinking behind a top-to-bottom reassessment of the largest collection of British art in the world
Alex Farquharson, the director of Tate Britain, opens up on the thinking behind a top-to-bottom reassessment of the largest collection of British art in the world
Dutch museum has received €12.5m gift to help support free-of-charge, sculptural exhibitions in the gardens
Tate Britain presents a complete rehang of its collection displays
Today, 23 May 2023, the Tate Britain presents the first reorganisation of its collections in ten years.
Source: Tate Britain · Image: John Everett Millais, “Ophelia” (1852)
The most iconic works from the world’s greatest collection of British art are free for all to see, from John Everett Millais’ Ophelia and William Hogarth’s The Painter and his Pug to David Hockney’s A Bigger Splash, Barbara Hepworth’s Pelagos and Chris Ofili’s No Woman, No Cry. There is a career-spanning display of over 100 works by J.M.W. Turner, as well as rooms devoted to key figures in art history like William Blake, John Constable, the Pre-Raphaelites and Henry Moore, and a series of regularly changing solo displays exploring other ground-breaking artists, including Annie Swynnerton, Richard Hamilton, Aubrey Williams and Zineb Sedira.
The rehang reflects the ongoing transformation of Tate’s collection by putting on display over 200 works which were acquired after the millennium. These include 70 works which entered the collection in the past 5 years alone, from grand Tudor portraits and Georgian battle scenes, to modern paintings and sculptures by Derek Jarman, Gluck, Takis, Kim Lim and Donald Locke. Visitors can also find works by a new generation of young artists who are joining the national collection for the first time, such as a kaleidoscopic canvas by Rachel Jones (b.1991) and a series of photographs capturing 21st century British life by Rene Matić (b.1997).
Women artists are better represented than ever before. Half the contemporary artists on display are women, from Bridget Riley and Tracey Emin to Kudzanai-Violet Hwami and Lydia Ourahmane. Tate’s longstanding commitment to diversifying its collection means the gallery can also showcase great women artists from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including many who have never been shown at Tate before. These include a full-length portrait from 1650-5 by Joan Carlile, thought to be the first woman in Britain to work as a professional oil painter (acquired in 2016), a selection of watercolours by Emily Sargent made on her travels in North Africa (acquired in 2021), and the atmospheric painting A Fisher Girl’s Light 1899 by Marianne Stokes (acquired in 2022).
Andrea Schlieker, Director of Exhibitions and Displays, Tate Britain, said: “This will be a wonderful moment for Tate Britain and a great chance for us to showcase British artistic talent. Working with innovative contemporary artists, we can offer a new lens through which to see the art of the past and provide inspiration to future generations.”
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