25 November 2015 – 10 April 2016
Tate Britain, Linbury Galleries
Admission £14.50 (£12.70 concession) or £16.00 (£14.00 concession) with Gift Aid donation
Open daily 10.00 – 18.00
For public information call +44 (0)20 7887 8888, visit tate.org.uk, follow @Tate #ArtistandEmpire
How did Britain’s Empire influence the creation and collection of art over the past 400 years? And how did artists themselves reinforce, resist and reflect the Empire in their work? Tate Britain presents a unique exhibition about Imperial visual culture which shows art from across the British Isles, North America, the Caribbean, the Pacific, Asia and Africa.
In 21st century Britain, ‘Empire’ is a highly provocative term. Its histories of war, conquest and slavery can be difficult to address but its legacy is everywhere. Artist and Empire examines the people who helped to create, promote or confront the British Empire in their work, bringing together around 200 extraordinary paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures and artefacts. The exhibition reveals how the meanings of these objects have changed through history, and asks what they mean to us today.
Drawn from major public and private collections across Britain, the exhibition investigates the different routes by which works of art were created and collected. For the first time, historic paintings by such artists as George Stubbs, Anthony Van Dyck, Johan Zoffany, Lady Butler and Thomas Daniell are shown with works including Indian miniatures and Maori artefacts, offering critical insight into how each was made, collected and categorised. The encounters between cultures are also explored, from the East India Company’s patronage of Mughal painting during a period of cultural assimilation, through to the long disregard of Aboriginal art which went hand-in-hand with the denigration of indigenous Australian cultures.
Starting in the 16th century, Artist and Empire shows how artists mapped the world and its resources. From Lambert and Scott’s 1731 painting of Bombay harbour to John Montresor’s 1766 Plan of the City of New York, these works depicted and claimed territories around the globe. Carefully staged paintings of international events also manipulated the sympathies of audiences in Britain, dramatising conquests, treaties and ‘last stands’. The exhibition also brings together grand portraits of key political figures by Augustus John and Joshua Reynolds. It examines how they were presented in ‘exotic’ or hybrid costume, showing how images reflected bonds of union but also established differences between cultural groups.
Artist and Empire demonstrates how in the 20th century artists around the world challenged Imperial ideology, and how contemporary artists like Sonia Boyce and Judy Watson reflect on these histories today. National art movements in places such as Bengal and Nigeria accompanied growing demands for independence, as reflected in the work of Jamini Roy and Uzo Egonu. Contemporary British artists, including Hew Locke and Andrew Gilbert, offer fresh interpretations of colonial imagery and confront the problematic legacies of Empire in the present day.
Artist and Empire is curated by Alison Smith, Lead Curator, 19th Century British Art, with curators David Blayney Brown, Carol Jacobi and Caroline Corbeau-Parsons. It is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue from Tate Publishing. In a collaboration between Tate Britain and National Gallery Singapore, a co-curated selection of works will be presented in Singapore in October 2016 for an Artist and Empire exhibition focusing on a Southeast Asian context.
For press information contact Sara.Warsama@tate.org.uk or Rachael.Young@tate.org.uk or call +44(0)20 7887 8732. For high-resolution images visit tate.org.uk/press
Related Events and Resources
Curator’s tour with David Blayney Brown
Friday 19 February 18.30–20.30, £20 (concessions £15)
Curator David Brown takes visitors on a tour of the Artist and Empire exhibition, revealing the curatorial decisions made and exploring the complex history of Empire and its relationship to contemporary art practice. The tour will be followed by an opportunity to view the exhibition out of hours.
Artist and Empire: New Dynamics
24 – 26 November 2015
Tate Britain’s major conference, held in collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London and King’s College London, marks the opening of the exhibition Artist and Empire. Scholars, curators and artists from around Britain and the world consider art created under the conditions of the British Empire, its aftermath, and its future in museum and gallery displays. Conference pass includes exhibition entry.
Learning Resources: Artist and Empire
Tate Schools and Teachers team commissioned artist Evan Ifekoya, and artist/curator collaborators Barby Asante and Teresa Cisneros to produce new resources that extend and deepen learning around the Artist and Empire exhibition. These resources offer a wide-reaching introduction to the exhibition through the lens of contemporary artists’ practice. By suggesting ways of re-framing the ideas raised by the exhibition, they offer an opportunity to contextualise the exhibition for teachers and students. For more information and to access the resources please visit:
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/artist-and-empir...