NEWS RELEASES
Horsham Museum Says Dead House Martins are Art!
2 September 2008
In the 1970s the Tate bought a load of bricks and called it art, in the 1990s Damien Hirst stuffed half a cow in a glass box and called it art, now Horsham Museum has decided to join the fray by buying a couple of dead house martins and saying it is art, arguing that as a public museum it has a duty to buy art which is relevant to the people of Horsham. These dead house martins (a painting, of course) form the centrepiece of a brand new temporary exhibition at Horsham Museum called ‘Bought: The Art of Collecting’ which looks back over twenty years of purchases.
The exhibition will not only display some remarkable purchases but also explain why the museum felt it should have the item. So for these dead house martins the museum will explain that the artist was the celebrated Victorian, Helen Cordelia Coleman a painter of exquisite watercolours and oils, who was born in Horsham in 1847. The Times 12th March 1884 carried the news of the death of Helen Cordelia Angell (nee Coleman) saying she was “one of the most exquisite artists of our time". Horsham Museum has never owned one of her works; now thanks to fundraising by The Friends of Horsham Museum we have been able to do so.
The National Galleries of Scotland and England are currently fund raising for £100m to buy two seminal paintings, key works in any art history. Horsham Museum, with substantially less buying power but with contributions by the Friends, has been able to buy not only art work but also manuscripts and objects, key (to Horsham and district) history and culture – from Belloc manuscripts to Flower Fairy books, from an 18th century rocket to Regency fingerless gloves - all add to our ability to explain and explore the past.
Virtually all of the art work that has been bought has been done so over heated battles at auctions. Without the generous and substantial help from the Friends of Horsham Museum many of these battles would have been lost. The exhibition ‘Bought: The Art of Collecting’ is also therefore a celebration of the work that the Friends do behind the scenes in fund raising as well as valuable contributions from other grant giving bodies including the National Art Collection Fund.
‘Bought: The Art of Collecting’ will delight those who enjoy seeing how a local museum can, with active and sustained support from the Council, the Friends and countless donations, make a major contribution to exploring and explaining the culture of the town and district. It represents a remarkable twenty years of development and collecting. The exhibition opens from 11 September to 11 October 2008.
For further information please contact Jeremy Knight, Curator.
Horsham Museum
9 Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HE
Tel: (01403) 254959 Fax: (01403) 282594
Email: museum@horsham.gov.uk
http://www.horshammuseum.org.