British pavilion
The British pavilion houses Great Britain's
national representation during the Venice Biennale
arts festivals.
Background
The Venice Biennale is an international
national pavilions hosted by individual nations, and independent exhibitions throughout Venice. The Biennale parent organization also hosts regular festivals in other arts: architecture, dance, film, music, and theater.[1]
Outside of the central, international exhibition, individual nations produce their own shows, known as pavilions, as their national representation. Nations that own their pavilion buildings, such as the 30 housed on the Giardini, are responsible for their own upkeep and construction costs as well. Nations without dedicated buildings create pavilions in venues throughout the city.[1]
Organization and building
The British pavilion was designed by the architect
Italianate-style, English country houses.[2]
Since 1937 the British Council has been responsible for the pavilion.[3] Financial support for the pavilion comes from a combination of public funds, via the British Council, and private sponsors, including Burberry. The decision of art fair and magazine brand Frieze to sponsor the British pavilion in 2024 marks the first time that an art fair has provided funding for a national pavilion at the Biennale.[4]
Representation by year
Art
- 1948 — Sculptures by Henry Moore. Paintings by J. M. W. Turner. Works by Ben Nicholson and John Tunnard.
- 1950 — Paintings by Matthew Smith and John Constable. Sculptures by Barbara Hepworth.
- 1952 — Paintings by Graham Sutherland and Edward Wadsworth. Sculptures by the New Aspects of British Sculpture group (Robert Adams, Kenneth Armitage, Reg Butler, Lynn Chadwick, Geoffrey Clarke, Bernard Meadows, Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi, and William Turnbull).
- 1954 — Paintings by Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and Ben Nicholson. Sculptures by Reg Butler relating to his Unknown Political Prisoner monument. Lithographs by Allin Braund, Geoffrey Clarke, Henry Cliffe, Robert Colquhoun, William Gear, Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi, Ceri Richards, William Scott, and Graham Sutherland.
- 1956 — Paintings by Ivon Hitchens, John Bratby, Derrick Greaves, Edward Middleditch, and Jack Smith. Sculptures by Lynn Chadwick.
- 1958 — Paintings by William Scott and S. W. Hayter. Sculptures by Kenneth Armitage, Sezione Giovani, Sandra Blow, Anthony Caro, and Alan Davie.
- 1960 — Mixed media works by Victor Pasmore. Paintings by Merlyn Evans, Geoffrey Clarke, Henry Cliffe.
- 1962 — Paintings by Ceri Richards. Sculptures by Robert Adams and Hubert Dalwood.
- 1964 — Mixed media works by .
- 1966 — Paintings by Richard Smith, Bernard Cohen, Harold Cohen, and Robyn Denny. Sculptures by Anthony Caro.
- 1968 — Paintings by Philip King. 'Ways of Contemporary Research' exhibition with works by Anthony Caro, David Hockney, Ben Nicholson, Eduardo Paolozzi, Victor Pasmore, Graham Sutherland.
- 1970 — Paintings by Richard Smith.
- 1972 — Paintings by Gilbert and George and Victor Burgin.
- 1976 — Works by Richard Long, Richard Hamilton, Victor Pasmore, David Mackay, Alison and Peter Smithson, James Stirling, John Davies, Phillip Hyde, Anne Rawcliffe-King, Yolanda Teuten.
- 1978 — Photography by Gilbert and George, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Richard Long, and Malcolm Morley. 'Art and Cinema' by Anthony McCall.
- 1980 — Works by Gilbert and George, Hamish Fulton, and Richard Long. 'Art in the Seventies. Open 80' exhibition with works by Roger Ackling, Tony Cragg, and Leonard McComb.
- 1982 — Works by Barry Flanagan. 'Aperto 82' exhibition with works by Catherine Blacker, Stephen Cox, Antony Gormley, Tim Head, Shirazeh Houshiary, Anish Kapoor, Christopher Le Brun, Judy Pfaff, Stephen Willats, and Bill Woodrow. 'Arte come arte: persistenza dell'opera — Mostra internazionale' exhibition with works by Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud, Ronald Kitaj, and Raymond Mason.
- 1984 — Works by Howard Hodgkin. 'Arte allo Specchio' exhibition with works by Peter Greenaway and Christopher Le Brun. 'Arte, Ambiente, Scena' exhibition with works by Judy Pfaff. 'Aperto 84' exhibition with works by Terry Atkinson, Helen Chadwick, Rose Garrard, Glenys Johnson, Paul Richards, Amikam Toren, and Kerry Treng.
- 1986 — Works by Allen Jones, Liliane Lijn, Peter Lowe, Kyeran Lyons, Conroy Maddox, Thomas Major, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Alastair Morton, Hugh O'Donnell, Andrew Owens, Digital Pictures, Mike Punt, Bridget Riley, Kurt Schwitters, Peter Sedgley, Jeffrey Steele, Paul Thomas, Philip West, and Alison Wilding.
- 1988 — Philip King, and Joe Tilson.
- 1990 — .
- 1993 — Braco Dimitrijevic, Shirazeh Houshiary, and Anish Kapoor.
- 1995 — Works by , Douglas Gordan, Tom Gidley, and Ceal Floyer.
- 1997 — Rachel Whiteread (Commissioner: Andrea Rose)
- 1999 — Paintings by Gary Hume (Commissioner: Andrea Rose)
- 2001 — Mark Wallinger (Commissioner: Andrea Rose; curator: Ann Gallagher)
- 2003 — Chris Ofili (Commissioner: Andrea Rose; curator: Colin Ledwith)
- 2005 — Gilbert and George(Commissioner: Andrea Rose; curator: Richard Riley)
- 2007 — Tracey Emin (Commissioner: Andrea Rose)
- 2009 — Video installation by Steve McQueen
- 2011 — Mike Nelson (Commissioner: Andrea Rose; curator: Richard Riley)
- 2013 — Jeremy Deller (Curator: Emma Gifford-Mead)
- 2015 — Sarah Lucas (Curator: Richard Riley)
- 2017 — Phyllida Barlow
- 2019 — Cathy Wilkes (Curator: Zoé Whitley)[5]
- 2022 — Sonia Boyce[6]
- 2024 — John Akomfrah (Curator: Skinder Hundal)[7][8]
References
- ^ a b Russeth 2019.
- ^ Volpi 2013.
- ^ Melanie Gerlis (6 December 2023), Frieze support for Britain’s Venice Biennale pavilion highlights art’s embrace of business Financial Times.
- ^ Kabir Jhala (23 November 2023), Frieze to sponsor next British pavilion at Venice Biennale The Art Newspaper.
- ^ Mark Brown (April 9, 2018) Cathy Wilkes to represent Britain at 58th Venice Biennale The Guardian.
- Artnet News. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
- ^ Gareth Harris (24 January 2023), John Akomfrah to represent Britain at 2024 Venice Biennale The Art Newspaper.
- ^ Alex Greenberger (24 January 2023) Celebrated Filmmaker John Akomfrah to Represent Great Britain at the 2024 Venice Biennale ARTnews.
Bibliography
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=British_pavilion&action=edit
- Russeth, Andrew (April 17, 2019). "The Venice Biennale: Everything You Could Ever Want to Know". ARTnews. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
- Volpi, Cristiana (2013). "Great Britain". In Re Rebaudengo, Adele (ed.). Pavilions and Garden of Venice Biennale. Rome: Contrasto. p. 167. ISBN 978-88-6965-440-4.
Further reading
- Berresford, Sandra; Bowness, Sophie; Phillpot, Clive (1995). Britain at the Venice Biennale 1895–1995. London: The British Council. OCLC 901079578.
- "BRITISH PAINTINGS AND 'IRON WAIFS' AT VENICE: Italian President Opens the 'Biennale'". The Manchester Guardian (1901-1959); Manchester (UK). Manchester (UK), United Kingdom, Manchester (UK). June 16, 1952. p. 4 – via ProQuest.
- Brown, Mark (April 9, 2018). "Cathy Wilkes to represent Britain at 58th Venice Biennale". ISSN 0261-3077.
- Jachec, Nancy (2006). "The 'New British Sculpture' at the Venice Biennale: Europeanism and its limits". The British Art Journal. 7 (1): 25–32. JSTOR 41614662.
- Pezzetta, Emanuela (2016). "British Sculpture Exhibited at the Venice Biennale after the Second World War, and its Impact on the Work of Italian Sculptors". British Art Studies (3): 1–12. EBSCOhost.
- Sprigge, Sylvia (June 24, 1952). "THE BIENNALE AT VENICE: I--Britain Strangely Represented". The Manchester Guardian (1901-1959); Manchester (UK). Manchester (UK), United Kingdom, Manchester (UK). p. 6 – via ProQuest.
- Sprigge, Sylvia (June 25, 1952). "THE BIENNALE AT VENICE: Awards to Dufy and Calder". The Manchester Guardian (1901-1959); Manchester (UK). Manchester (UK), United Kingdom, Manchester (UK). p. 5 – via ProQuest.
