Wigwam Magazine Issue No.2

ONE OF BRITAIN’S FINEST MODERN ART COLLECTIONS CAN BE FOUND IN SWINDON If you were asked to name three things that define Swindon, what would they be? Of course, the answer depends entirely on your interests and pastimes, but some popular features of Swindon tend to include its fascinating railway heritage, shopping at the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet and, of course, the formidable Magic Roundabout. Less frequently cited is the town’s exceptional collection of modern British art. Often praised for being the best outside of London, Swindon’s collection spans late 1800s right through to today. Paintings, drawings, prints, ceramics and sculptures represent some of the country’s most important art movements; from Walter Sickert and the Camden Town Group to recent works from contemporary British painting. It includes important work by some of the biggest and most celebrated names in British art including Lucian Freud, Henry Moore, L.S. Lowry and Howard Hodgkin, as well as significant artists with a local connection such as Desmond Morris, whose vibrant painting Girl Selling Flowers, was inspired by a young Diana Dors. The seeds of the art collection were sewn in the 1940s, with generous donations from local businessmen HJP “Jimmy” Bomford and Frederick Charles Phelps. Since then it has grown thanks to more donations, as well as grants

from organisations including the Art Fund, the Contemporary Arts Society and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. For several years, the development of the collection was also supported by the advice of the Tate Gallery’s Richard Morphet. Recent years have bought exciting acquisitions such as an early Grayson Perry ceramic, talks from prominent artists including The Great Pottery Throw Down’s Kate Malone, and profileraising exhibitions. Perhaps most notable was a retrospective of drawings by Eileen Cooper, the first female Keeper of the Royal Academy in London since it opened in 1768. The art collection and collections of archaeology, social history, geology and Egyptology are housed at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, in Swindon’s Old Town. The charming and quirky venue is a converted late Georgian house, complete with original stained glass features and warmly tiled entrance hall. A brutalist 1960s extension forms a spacious art gallery, where regularly changing exhibitions are held. Through its current Art on Tour project, Swindon Museum and Art Gallery also aims to share the art collection with other (sometimes unexpected) venues throughout the town. This began with exhibitions at STEAM Museum and Swindon’s Civic Offices in Autumn 2019.

wigwamSwindon.co.uk wigwamswindon.co.uk | 69