THE BRITISH PAVILION AT THE VENICE BIENNALE

The British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale, one of the first international art exhibitions in the world, was founded in 1895. For many years it took place exclusively in Venice's public gardens, at the far end of the city's main island, as a means of attracting new audiences to the ancient city and ensuring that it had a profile as a mecca for contemporary culture.

This exhibition in the Archive Gallery at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, traces the history of the British Pavilion and the artists shown at the Venice Biennale since 1938, under the management of the British Council. Exploring the rich archives of the Visual Arts Department library, the exhibition includes the British Pavilion catalogues from 1938 to 2009 and archive photographs from each year. The exhibition is contextualised by a large group photograph taken in 2008 to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the British Council. This unique moment captures 25 of the artists selected to show in the British Pavilion through the years since the British Council assumed management in 1938.

A fascinating series of letters from Lucian Freud to Lilian Somerville (the then Director of Fine Arts, British Council) concerning the selection of his work for the 1954 Venice Biennale, are written in a gluey black ink and green pencil from a hotel in Paris where he was still finishing one of the paintings to be included. The letters are shown alongside a newspaper clipping from an article written by Lillian Somerville in 1954 on one of the other artists' work shown that year, Reg Butler and his models for the Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner. Reg Butler's drawn plan for the exhibition is seen here too.

The exhibition also includes a bronze sculpture Divided Column (1962) by Hubert Dalwood from the British Council Collection, shown at the Venice Biennale in the same year. He said that his work at this time was exploring 'purely formal notions' in the process of making 'works for an unspecified (unimagined) ceremonial'. For Chris Stephens, this added up to ‘a sense of mystery and ritual’, seen here in Divided Column. Alongside the sculpture are letters from that year, giving an insight into the more practical side of arranging a Biennale.

Barry Flanagan's beautiful marble sculpture Her Warm Tit Rolls (1981), has been lent generously to the exhibition by the Artist's Estate. The sculpture was shown in the British Pavilion in 1982, in an exhibition of 51 works by the artist made between 1973 - 1981. Flanagan had rolled an initial maquette for Her Warm Tit Rolls from clay, and sent it to Tuscany to be carved. He gave instructions for the maquette to be scaled up into white Arni marble, four times; this is roughly the ratio of hand to arm, and thus, he said 'an objective standard, which is perfectly understood, by which they achieve a carving'.

A number of other archive works in the exhibition also demonstrate the different transformations seen by the British Pavilion over the years. A set of photographs from Richard Long's exhibition in 1976 illustrate the installation of his work, made by the artist specifically in response to the Pavilion space. Finding a quantity of red breccia stone in a stone-merchant’s yard near Verona, the artist had it transported by pontoon to Venice, and looped a trail three times through the Pavilion in a square spiral.

Rachel Whiteread kindly lent her British Pavilion plan drawing to us, made in preparation for her exhibition in the British Pavilion in 1997. Gilbert & George fastidiously recreated their exhibition of 2005 in a wooden model of the Pavilion with miniaturised replicas of their work made to scale, accompanied by photographs of the exhibition installation in Venice.

The exhibition finishes on the 2009 Venice Biennale, and some photographs of the British Pavilion's tranformation into a cinema-like space for the showing of Steve McQueen's film Giardini. Filmed during the winter months in the gardens around the national pavilions (including the British Pavilion), the film reminds us of the passing of time as we see the buildings closed and shuttered-up, empty of visitors and in misty half-light.

For more detailed information on the artists in the exhibition, and the Venice Biennale, please have a look at our special Venice Biennale website at www.britishcouncil.org/venicebiennale

The exhibition continues at the Whitechapel Gallery until 13 December 2009.
www.whitechapelgallery.org