On the outside it’s a 17th century country mansion complete with atmospheric family rooms but alongside these, the house also contains a series of art galleries created by the last owners, Sir George and Rachel, Lady Labouchere, to display their contrasting modern and traditional art collections.
Both had a passion and life-long interest in collecting and Sir George in particular gathered together works by some of leading British Modern artists of the 20th century including Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Omar Rayo, Victor Vasarely and Anthony Twentyman. The galleries also contain works by Spanish artists which were created in response to the aftermath of the Civil War and the subsequent Fascist regime in Spain under General Franco. These were collected by Sir George whilst he was living in Madrid from 1960 to 1966 and working as the British Ambassador. He was excited and inspired by Abstract art and believed that the viewer should resist trying to find something recognisable in such works.
Sir George said of his collection at Dudmaston: “I hope that the visitors to this display of modern art will not allow themselves to be shocked by an art which may seem unusual to them and that, by endeavouring to appreciate a new way of perceiving beauty, they will experience a degree of joy and excitement, which I myself have undergone.”
Continuing the legacy left by Sir George is an important aspect of the Trust’s presentation of Dudmaston today. This year through a new partnership between the National Trust and Turning Point West Midlands, Elizabeth Rowe will spend six months as Artist in Residence.
The artist from Birmingham, who was selected by open submission, will be based at Dudmaston every Monday and the last Sunday of each month, from now until 28 October 2013. Elizabeth will be taking inspiration from the collection for her own work and collaborating with Hall volunteers to help them interpret Sir George’s pictures for our visitors – bringing them to life and enabling them to share the excitement that Sir George felt for his collection. Elizabeth’s studio will be based in the Hall and when she is not ‘in residence’ volunteers will be talking to visitors about the artist and her work.
Kellie Channing, House Steward at Dudmaston says: “This is an exciting opportunity to see art as it is formed and I hope this will give a greater understanding to our visitors of the processes that artists go through when creating contemporary art.”
Elizabeth said: “Responding to the Modern art collection held on site, I will be researching notions of ‘blankness’ in relation to a diverse selection of starting points such as, monochromatic painting, abstraction of information and the mind’s proclivity to block out areas of thinking that are perceived as beyond it’s understanding. The resulting drawings and writings will be published in newspaper format later this year.”
Wendy Law, Director of Turning Point West Midlands added: “This is an excellent opportunity for an artist and we are very pleased to support this residency with a grant, and to be working with the National Trust. There are many successful examples of artists today responding to historic collections and enabling audiences as well as staff and volunteers to see historic collections and contemporary work in a new light. We hope such opportunities will continue in to the future.”
Elizabeth will also be part of an event to be held on Monday 9 September called ‘The Art of Collecting’ during which visitors will have the rare chance to visit Dudmaston Hall during the evening to view the galleries and to see the sculptures Sir George collected for the garden. There will also be the chance to speak to professionals about all aspects of collecting: from buying at auction or galleries; to how to display artwork.
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