The relationships between the antique trade and public museums is an expansive and complex subject, and there’s not really enough space in a short blog post to do the subject any real justice at all. But a recent addition to the antique dealer project archive of antique dealer ephemera is worth highlighting as it is further evidence of the fascinating dialogue between antique dealers and the public museum. The ephemera in question is a rare survival, an exhibition catalogue of the exhibition ‘In the Days of Queen Charlotte‘ held at Luton Public Museum in May to June 1939.
The exhibition was organised in collaboration with the British Antique Dealers’ Association and exhibitors included most of the leading antique dealers of the day, such as H. Blairman & Sons, Frank Partridge & Sons, M. Harris & Sons, H. M. Lee, Mallett & Son, S.J. Phillips, S. W Wolsey, Stoner & Evans, J. Rochelle Thomas, and many more. It built on the success of the famous ‘Art Treasures‘ exhibition held at Grafton Galleries in 1928 (also under the auspices of the BADA) and the antique dealers exhibition at Christie’s auction rooms in 1932. However, there was a key distinction between these earlier exhibitions and the Luton Museum exhibition, which was of course that the 1939 exhibition was held in a public museum. I believe this was one of the earliest of what one might call hybrid exhibitions (those staged by the antique trade in public museums) that took place in Britain, and was a catalyst for the much more ambitious collaborations between the antique trade and public museums in the form of public exhibitions that took place later in the 20th century, at The Victoria & Albert Museum in 1962 (organised by CINOA, the International Confederation of Dealers in Works of Art), and again at the V&A Museum in 1968 (organised by the BADA as part of the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of the establishment of the BADA (1918)). There was also similar dealer exhibitions in public museums in Europe, all organised by CINOA, the earliest of which appears to have been held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1936, with similar exhibitions at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris in 1954 and at the Historisch Museum in Amsterdam in 1970. And perhaps the most ambitious of these initiatives was the exhibition, ‘The Grand Gallery‘, staged at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1974 (again organised by CINOA) and which was partly staged to celebrate the additions to the Metropolitan Museum collections acquired through or gifted by, the New York based antique dealers Joseph and Ernest Brummer.
The exhibition at Luton Public Museum, like the other later exhibitions at the various museums, was partly for public education – the exhibitions often had antiques loaned by influential collectors for example. At the Luton Public Museum exhibition, Queen Mary (an avid collector of antiques) loaned a pair of 18th century Wedgwood & Bentley jasper plaques (c.1780), and the Duke of Kent loaned a collection of 20 stipple engravings of members of the Royal Family (published in 1806).
Of course one of the main purposes of these antique dealer organised public museum exhibitions was to showcase, and sell, antiques displayed by antique dealers. Indeed, at the Luton Public Museum exhibition all the objects on display, apart from the loans by Queen Mary and the Duke of Kent, were offered for sale – Moss Harris & Sons offered this 18th century wine cooler (see below) and J. Rochelle Thomas, a pair of 18th century vase and covers (see below).
The arrangement of the exhibits at the museum also seemed to mirror the displays of antiques at major antique fairs at the time – such as those at the Antique Dealers Fair held at the Grosvenor House Hotel from 1934 – as one might expect of course – the overlap between modes of display in the worlds of commerce and in the public museum are often much closer than one thinks.
Indeed, all of these antique dealer organised exhibitions draw further attention to the close relationship between the market for antiques (as figured in the presence of antique dealers) and the role of the public museum as a frame for ‘decorative art’ (also known as ‘antiques’ of course). The exhibition I curated at The Bowes Museum back in 2019 – ‘SOLD! The Great British Antiques Story‘, was partly an attempt to draw the attention to the symbiotic relationship between the realm of the art market and the so-called ‘disinterested’ realm of the public museum. If you are interested, you can read more about this in the SOLD! exhibition catalogue – still available, for FREE, as a PDF download via the Antique Dealer Research Project Website HERE.
Mark
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