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| Exhibition at Durham shows art commissioned during the dark days of the Blitz | Exhibition at Durham shows art commissioned during the dark days of the Blitz |
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| In July 1941, an exhibition called Recording Britain was mounted at the National Gallery. At the time, the gallery's permanent collection was being housed in a slate mine in Wales to safeguard it from the Blitz. | In July 1941, an exhibition called Recording Britain was mounted at the National Gallery. At the time, the gallery's permanent collection was being housed in a slate mine in Wales to safeguard it from the Blitz. |
| Recording Britain was the result of a scheme supported by the National Gallery's director Kenneth Clark, which was designed to commission "artists to record changing or vanishing aspects of Britain". 90 artists - aged between 23 and 70 - were selected by Clark and a small committee, leading to an archive of over 1,500 | Recording Britain was the result of a scheme supported by the National Gallery's director Kenneth Clark, which was designed to commission "artists to record changing or vanishing aspects of Britain". 90 artists - aged between 23 and 70 - were selected by Clark and a small committee, leading to an archive of over 1,500 |
| topographical water-colour drawings of places and buildings of characteristic interest. | topographical water-colour drawings of places and buildings of characteristic interest. |
| Recording was one of Clark's aims, another was providing employment to artists who were "suffering very great distress" as their source of commissions had dried up because of the war, to the extent that many were "practically starving". | Recording was one of Clark's aims, another was providing employment to artists who were "suffering very great distress" as their source of commissions had dried up because of the war, to the extent that many were "practically starving". |
| At the time the danger was from enemy bombs – the National Gallery itself was hit several times. However, it was clear from the beginning of the scheme that Clark and his colleagues were not just worried about damage from the Luftwaffe, but also from the destruction caused by predatory developers. The leading art critic Herbert Read wrote | At the time the danger was from enemy bombs – the National Gallery itself was hit several times. However, it was clear from the beginning of the scheme that Clark and his colleagues were not just worried about damage from the Luftwaffe, but also from the destruction caused by predatory developers. The leading art critic Herbert Read wrote |
| When we have secured them from an external enemy, the existence of these drawings may serve to remind us that the real fight – the fight against all commercial vandalism and insensitive neglect – goes on all the time. There will be little point in saving England from the Nazis if we then deliver it to the jerry-builders and the development corporations. | When we have secured them from an external enemy, the existence of these drawings may serve to remind us that the real fight – the fight against all commercial vandalism and insensitive neglect – goes on all the time. There will be little point in saving England from the Nazis if we then deliver it to the jerry-builders and the development corporations. |
The choice of subjects to be recorded was necessarily eclectic. As one critic noted in 1942: | The choice of subjects to be recorded was necessarily eclectic. As one critic noted in 1942: |
| A selection of subjects had to be made, and the choice had to be guided by a diversity of considerations, among which were the need to select scenes and buildings typical in their own kind, and the particular claims of beauties in special danger of destruction, whether from the course of the war or the changing conditions of life. | A selection of subjects had to be made, and the choice had to be guided by a diversity of considerations, among which were the need to select scenes and buildings typical in their own kind, and the particular claims of beauties in special danger of destruction, whether from the course of the war or the changing conditions of life. |
The "course of the war" in fact destroyed far fewer of the works recorded in this exhibition than "the changing conditions of life". Kenneth Rowntree recorded the village of Ashopton in the Derbyshire Peak District, shortly before it was demolished and then flooded to form the Ladybower reservoir – a reservoir also almost destroyed the subject of John Piper's painting of the elegantly classical St Matthew's Church, on a hill near Normanton, which is now half submerged in the Rutland reservoir. The Euston Arch survived the blitz only to be flattened by the developers in 1961. One of the few depictions of damage caused by the enemy is a rather restrained watercolour by Phyllis Ginger from 1942, showing Catherine Place in Bath after one of its Georgian houses had been blown out by a bomb. | The "course of the war" in fact destroyed far fewer of the works recorded in this exhibition than "the changing conditions of life". Kenneth Rowntree recorded the village of Ashopton in the Derbyshire Peak District, shortly before it was demolished and then flooded to form the Ladybower reservoir – a reservoir also almost destroyed the subject of John Piper's painting of the elegantly classical St Matthew's Church, on a hill near Normanton, which is now half submerged in the Rutland reservoir. The Euston Arch survived the blitz only to be flattened by the developers in 1961. One of the few depictions of damage caused by the enemy is a rather restrained watercolour by Phyllis Ginger from 1942, showing Catherine Place in Bath after one of its Georgian houses had been blown out by a bomb. |
| Towards the end of the war the works were handed over to the V&A Museum, which has held them ever since. They have also acquired contemporary works to complement the original collection. Included in the Durham exhibition is "A Six Hour Run from Dartmoor to Exmoor", by Richard Long, whose works will be seen in the "Walk On" exhibition at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland from June this year. Turner Prize-winning artist Jermey Deller's "Protest House, Cardiff", from the artist's "Folk Archive" is also on show. The exhibition also shows that modern buildings are not immune from threat either – John Davies' photograph of 1981 shows the squat grandeur of the four cooling towers of Salford Power Station, which was demolished in the 1990s. | Towards the end of the war the works were handed over to the V&A Museum, which has held them ever since. They have also acquired contemporary works to complement the original collection. Included in the Durham exhibition is "A Six Hour Run from Dartmoor to Exmoor", by Richard Long, whose works will be seen in the "Walk On" exhibition at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland from June this year. Turner Prize-winning artist Jermey Deller's "Protest House, Cardiff", from the artist's "Folk Archive" is also on show. The exhibition also shows that modern buildings are not immune from threat either – John Davies' photograph of 1981 shows the squat grandeur of the four cooling towers of Salford Power Station, which was demolished in the 1990s. |
| Recording Britain is curated by the V&A's Gill Saunders, and can be seen at the DLI Museum & Durham Art Gallery from March 29 until June 30. | Recording Britain is curated by the V&A's Gill Saunders, and can be seen at the DLI Museum & Durham Art Gallery from March 29 until June 30. |
| Alan Sykes is the Guardian Northerner's roving arts specialist and a sheep farmer in the high Pennines. He Tweets here. | Alan Sykes is the Guardian Northerner's roving arts specialist and a sheep farmer in the high Pennines. He Tweets here. |
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