Neil Kenlock MBE, Black Panther school bags 1970, printed 2010. Tate. © reserved.
14 rooms in Modern and Contemporary British Art
Artists begin working with ideas and images that can be rapidly transmitted in an increasingly interconnected world, addressing political and social issues
The late 1960s is seen by many as a high point in cultural experimentation and revolutionary ideals. Artists begin developing art that is more concerned with ideas than aesthetics. They also want to democratise how art is produced, shared and experienced. These artists do not think of their work as something to be owned but instead as a way to exchange ideas. They emphasise process: how and why you make something is more important than what you produce. They often move out of their studios to work in the streets and don’t use traditional art materials. It seems to be an art of endless possibility, as artists embrace new materials, processes and actions.
As the 1960s becomes the 1970s, artists in Britain increasingly use these strategies to address social issues. These include: the personal and political injustices identified by the feminist movement, the poor condition of social housing, the legacy of British colonialism, experiences of racism, and escalating global political tension, including war in Vietnam.
Technological developments, exemplified by the 1969 moon landing of Apollo 11, also mark this era. Another of the most profound legacies of the time is the women’s liberation movement. Soon after the UK joins the European Communities in 1973, the global oil crisis contributes to economic recession and severe inflation. The country sees nationwide strikes by workers demanding that their pay keeps up with the rising cost of living. Many artists respond to this crisis that drives people to gather and protest.
Janet Nathan, Zeloso 1979
Zeloso 1979 is typical of Nathan’s early constructions in mixed media, a number of which explore the format of a cross. It takes its colour predominantly from the muted tones of wood and metal juxtaposed against sections of red painted board. The materials were sourced from skips or found as driftwood on the shoreline and are left in their natural and weathered state. The work’s asymmetrical arrangement of stark fragments emanates what historian Mary Rose Beaumont has described as ‘a fragile air of spirituality’, its cross-shape formation leading her to see it as a kind of altarpiece (Beaumont 1988, p.3). She goes on to note, ‘The cruciform shape has been part of the form consciousness of Western civilisation for at least the last 2,000 years, carrying with it a heavy load of associations. In some of [Nathan’s] constructions the shape of the cross is unmistakable; always there is a poignancy and an inescapably haunting presence’ (Beaumont 1988, p.3).
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Katherine Gili, Vertical IV 1975
Vertical IV 1975 is a freestanding steel sculpture which has been zinc sprayed and painted brown. Standing over two metres high, it is constructed from flat pieces of steel, bolted and welded together. Rising from the ground at different angles, its primary components are three long planes of steel that visually cohere into an abstract form akin to an extended tree structure. The arrangement of the work, with its variously angled planes, invites the viewer to move around it, experiencing it in its changing form, depending on the viewing position.
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Penny Slinger, End of the Line 2 1977
This is one of five photo-collages in Tate’s collection – Bird in the Hand, End of the Line 2, Perspective, Diamond Sutra / Deliverance and Dust to Dust (Tate T15174–T15178) – from a series originally published in book form in 1977 as An Exorcism by Villiers Publications for Empty-Eye. For An Exorcism, Slinger staged her own mises-en-scène in the then abandoned Lilford Hall near Peterborough in Northamptonshire, producing performative self-portraits over the course of seven years in the manner of early surrealists such as Claude Cahun, Hannah Höch and Dorothea Behrens. In these she employed the tools of the surrealist movement to explore the feminist psyche, delving into the unconscious and subconscious in the pursuit of the psychic integration which she understood to be the cornerstone of self-liberation. As well as examining the idea of the self, the series looks at liberation, sex, desire, the dream realm and memory. It was created in the tradition of the classical ‘photo-romance’, taking inspiration from works by Max Ernst such as La femme 100 têtes 1929 and Une semaine de bonté 1934 (as a student at the Royal College of Art, London in the late 1960s, Slinger had written her thesis on Ernst). The theatricality of the staged scenes may stem from the fact that Slinger was also involved in the dramatic arts with the all-women theatre troupe Holocaust in 1971, as well as appearing in the avant-garde feature film The Other Side of the Underneath (1972), directed by Jane Arden, and working on the production and design for Pablo Picasso’s play The Four Little Girls at the Open Space Theatre, London in 1971.
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Penny Slinger, Dust to Dust 1970–7
This is one of five photo-collages in Tate’s collection – Bird in the Hand, End of the Line 2, Perspective, Diamond Sutra / Deliverance and Dust to Dust (Tate T15174–T15178) – from a series originally published in book form in 1977 as An Exorcism by Villiers Publications for Empty-Eye. For An Exorcism, Slinger staged her own mises-en-scène in the then abandoned Lilford Hall near Peterborough in Northamptonshire, producing performative self-portraits over the course of seven years in the manner of early surrealists such as Claude Cahun, Hannah Höch and Dorothea Behrens. In these she employed the tools of the surrealist movement to explore the feminist psyche, delving into the unconscious and subconscious in the pursuit of the psychic integration which she understood to be the cornerstone of self-liberation. As well as examining the idea of the self, the series looks at liberation, sex, desire, the dream realm and memory. It was created in the tradition of the classical ‘photo-romance’, taking inspiration from works by Max Ernst such as La femme 100 têtes 1929 and Une semaine de bonté 1934 (as a student at the Royal College of Art, London in the late 1960s, Slinger had written her thesis on Ernst). The theatricality of the staged scenes may stem from the fact that Slinger was also involved in the dramatic arts with the all-women theatre troupe Holocaust in 1971, as well as appearing in the avant-garde feature film The Other Side of the Underneath (1972), directed by Jane Arden, and working on the production and design for Pablo Picasso’s play The Four Little Girls at the Open Space Theatre, London in 1971.
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Penny Slinger, Perspective 1970–7
This is one of five photo-collages in Tate’s collection – Bird in the Hand, End of the Line 2, Perspective, Diamond Sutra / Deliverance and Dust to Dust (Tate T15174–T15178) – from a series originally published in book form in 1977 as An Exorcism by Villiers Publications for Empty-Eye. For An Exorcism, Slinger staged her own mises-en-scène in the then abandoned Lilford Hall near Peterborough in Northamptonshire, producing performative self-portraits over the course of seven years in the manner of early surrealists such as Claude Cahun, Hannah Höch and Dorothea Behrens. In these she employed the tools of the surrealist movement to explore the feminist psyche, delving into the unconscious and subconscious in the pursuit of the psychic integration which she understood to be the cornerstone of self-liberation. As well as examining the idea of the self, the series looks at liberation, sex, desire, the dream realm and memory. It was created in the tradition of the classical ‘photo-romance’, taking inspiration from works by Max Ernst such as La femme 100 têtes 1929 and Une semaine de bonté 1934 (as a student at the Royal College of Art, London in the late 1960s, Slinger had written her thesis on Ernst). The theatricality of the staged scenes may stem from the fact that Slinger was also involved in the dramatic arts with the all-women theatre troupe Holocaust in 1971, as well as appearing in the avant-garde feature film The Other Side of the Underneath (1972), directed by Jane Arden, and working on the production and design for Pablo Picasso’s play The Four Little Girls at the Open Space Theatre, London in 1971.
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Donald Locke, Dageraad From the Air 1978–9
Dageraad was a sugar plantation. In 1763 it was the site of Guyana’s first rebellion of enslaved people. The painting evokes the plantation system that shaped Guyana’s history under Dutch and British colonial rule. The grid reflects the intervention on the land, sectioned by dykes and drainage canals. Donald Locke said: ‘In the Caribbean, the most dominant sociological event is the plantation system. I grew up at a time when the plantation system was still in existence. It dominated the sky; it dominated your life from beginning to end.’
Gallery label, September 2023
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Romany Eveleigh, Pages 1976
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Chris Killip, Launch of the supertanker, Everett F. Wells, Wallsend, Tyneside 1976, printed 2012–13
This one of a large group of black and white photographs in Tate’s collection taken in the north-east of England by the British photographer Chris Killip in the mid to late 1970s (see Tate P81021–P81037). Though born on the Isle of Man – which he also photographed (see Tate P20400–P20422) – Killip moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the early 1970s and began to photograph the north-east of England extensively. Tate’s collection contains examples of his series General North East 1975–9 and Shipbuilding 1972–81, as well as the related series Huddersfield, Yorkshire 1973–4 (Tate P81015–P81020) and Seaside, Tyneside and Wearside 1975–6 (see Tate P81038–P81041).
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artworks in Ideas into Action
David Lamelas, Time 1970
This photograph documents the first performance of Time. A group of people stand in a line. The first person tells the time to the next person. They ‘receive’ the time and ‘hold on to it’ before announcing it to the next participant. The last person announces it ‘to the world’ in the language of their choice. This image shows Time being performed in Les Arcs in the French Alps. It is currently taking place on the ramp of the Turbine Hall. Members of the public are invited to participate.
Gallery label, October 2016
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Chris Killip, Windowless houses, Killingworth New Town, Tyneside 1975, printed 2012–13
This one of a large group of black and white photographs in Tate’s collection taken in the north-east of England by the British photographer Chris Killip in the mid to late 1970s (see Tate P81021–P81037). Though born on the Isle of Man – which he also photographed (see Tate P20400–P20422) – Killip moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the early 1970s and began to photograph the north-east of England extensively. Tate’s collection contains examples of his series General North East 1975–9 and Shipbuilding 1972–81, as well as the related series Huddersfield, Yorkshire 1973–4 (Tate P81015–P81020) and Seaside, Tyneside and Wearside 1975–6 (see Tate P81038–P81041).
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Chris Killip, Woman walking past blast furnaces, Grangetown, Teeside 1976, printed 2012–13
This one of a large group of black and white photographs in Tate’s collection taken in the north-east of England by the British photographer Chris Killip in the mid to late 1970s (see Tate P81021–P81037). Though born on the Isle of Man – which he also photographed (see Tate P20400–P20422) – Killip moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the early 1970s and began to photograph the north-east of England extensively. Tate’s collection contains examples of his series General North East 1975–9 and Shipbuilding 1972–81, as well as the related series Huddersfield, Yorkshire 1973–4 (Tate P81015–P81020) and Seaside, Tyneside and Wearside 1975–6 (see Tate P81038–P81041).
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Mary Kelly, Post-Partum Document. Documentation III: Analysed Markings And Diary Perspective Schema (Experimentum Mentis III: Weaning from the Dyad) 1975
These panels form one part of a much larger work that documents the relationship between Kelly and her son over a period of six years. Here, she takes drawings and scribbles done in chalk or crayon by her son and overlays them with typewritten reflections on conversations with him as he begins nursery school. Drawing on feminist thinking of the time she explores the contradictions between working as an artist and her role as a mother – between ‘my lived experience and my analysis of that experience’.
Gallery label, November 2018
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artworks in Ideas into Action
John Latham, One-Second Drawing (17” 2002) (Time Signature 5:1) 1972
In the early 1970s, Latham devised a series of ‘One Second Drawings’, of which this is an example. In them, he returned to the issue of representing his idea of a ‘least event’. Latham produced a set of instructions which specified that 60 ‘drawings’ were to be created, one per day, by spraying a piece of white blockboard for one second with black acrylic paint. The numerical sequence in the title of this example (17” 2002) records the time of its execution (the 17th second of the 20th minute of the second hour), followed by the date (14 December 1972).
Gallery label, September 2016
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Cecilia Vicuña, Violeta Parra 1973
This painting is part of a series called Heroes of the Revolution. In 1952, singer and folklorist Violeta Parra embarked on a tour around rural Chile, recording and compiling folk music. She rescued a tradition that most Chileans had forgotten. This led to an artistic movement known as Nueva Canción Chilena (New Chilean Song). The painting commemorates Parra’s work and struggle before she took her own life in 1967. ‘My paintings are political in a personal way’, Vicuña has explained. ‘My canvases are born as representations of a socialist paradise where everything is possible’.
Gallery label, September 2023
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Susan Hiller, Dedicated to the Unknown Artists 1972–6
Dedicated to the Unknown Artists consists of 14 panels, featuring over 300 original postcards depicting waves crashing onto shores around Britain. A large map annotated with each of the locations featured in the postcards is included in the first panel. The title identifies the work as a tribute to the overlooked and forgotten artists who painted, photographed or hand-tinted the numerous seaside images. By making such commonplace objects the subject of a dedicated and extensive presentation, Hiller gives the mundane new status. This work also demonstrates Hiller’s interest in the theme of memory and memorials.
Gallery label, October 2013
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Rasheed Araeen, Rang Baranga 1969
Rang Baranga is made from an intersecting lattice structure composed of eight individual columns, each painted in a sequence of contrasting colours. The title is an Urdu term meaning ‘of many colours’. Trained as a civil engineer in Karachi, Pakistan, Rasheed Araeen creates sculptures that reference architectural and engineering structures as well as modernist art. In his search for stable yet open configurations, he found inspiration in nature, particularly in the movement of fire and water. Araeen was also struck by the sculptural language of Anthony Caro (displayed in this room), whose work he encountered after moving to London in 1964.
Gallery label, August 2024
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Chris Killip, Trade Union Official, Scottswood, Tyneside 1979, printed 2012–13
This one of a large group of black and white photographs in Tate’s collection taken in the north-east of England by the British photographer Chris Killip in the mid to late 1970s (see Tate P81021–P81037). Though born on the Isle of Man – which he also photographed (see Tate P20400–P20422) – Killip moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the early 1970s and began to photograph the north-east of England extensively. Tate’s collection contains examples of his series General North East 1975–9 and Shipbuilding 1972–81, as well as the related series Huddersfield, Yorkshire 1973–4 (Tate P81015–P81020) and Seaside, Tyneside and Wearside 1975–6 (see Tate P81038–P81041).
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artworks in Ideas into Action
Art in this room
Janet Nathan
Zeloso
1979
Katherine Gili
Vertical IV
1975
Penny Slinger
End of the Line 2
1977
Penny Slinger
Dust to Dust
1970–7
Penny Slinger
Perspective
1970–7
Donald Locke
Dageraad From the Air
1978–9
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