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Post-War Painting in Regional Collections

Our research group explores the ways in which our understanding of post-war British painting is shaped by both the complex shift in aesthetic values since the 1950s and the many social and political shifts that marked this period, including the breakdown of colonialism, and changing attitudes to gender, sexuality and class. These issues are of first importance to securing the ongoing relevance of regional public collections and recent socio-political events, including Brexit and the Black Lives Matter protests, highlight the need to interrogate these complex, often exclusionary narratives within the history of post-war art in Britain.

Our regional galleries hold excellent collections post-war painting, which are ripe for further research. Focusing our attention on regional collections presents a deliberate challenge to the centre-periphery model that dominates the narrative of British art: where artistic production and reception is said to congregate only in certain well-established locations.

This research group aims to:

  • Support new interpretations of regional collections that are sensitive to regional, local and socio-political particularity, across all of the home nations.
  • Utilise our research and experience collectively to uncover concealed histories of race, gender and sexuality in a regional context- pertaining to post-war paintings, artists, collectors, and curators represented by/in our regional collections.
  • Work collaboratively across the Higher Education and museums and galleries sectors, developing joint activities that allow us to share knowledge and expertise beyond our own disciplines.

The group is led by Sophie Hatchwell (Lecturer in History of Art, University of Birmingham), Hana Leaper (John Moores Painting Prize Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University) and Julie Brown (Collections Curator, New Art Gallery Walsall).

Image of ​John Michael Wishart's painting: Moths on a Blue Path.
​John Michael Wishart Moths on a Blue Path 1963 © the artist’s estate Photo: The New Art Gallery Walsall

Contact Information

If you are interested in joining the group, please contact Sophie Hatchwell, [email protected].

You can also follow our Post-War British Painting blog.

Related Research Members

a painting in pale browns, whites and creams, featuring two women in white waitress outfits, sitting behind a table apparently in conversation

Eva Frankfurther, West Indian Waitresses (c.1955), Ben Uri Collection (c) The estate of Eva Frankfurther 

Activity in 2021

In 2020-21, the group explored the following research questions:

  • What can our regional painting collections tell us about the relationship between the regional, local and the global in post-war Britain, and in galleries today?
  • How might our understanding of regional post-war collections change as we interrogate the marginalisation of artist of colour, women, working-class and queer artists?
  • How can current research, conducted both within and across the Higher Education and Museums sectors, usefully shape new interpretations of regional post-war collections?

We investigated these themes through a series of workshops, which focused on the practical application and evaluation of different research methodologies: mass data auditing, in-depth object-focused research, and monographic/biographic research. These events enabled members to uncover new information about the demographics of artists represented in post-war exhibition prizes, the ways in which objects and artists and artworks travelled in, out and around the UK in the post-war period, and about the different experiences of women artists navigating the post-war British art world. The events and the work generated as a result has allowed the group to reflect critically on the different research methodologies which can be employed when interrogating issues of marginalisation in post-war collections. The group have been pushed to consider new research material, archives and sources, and have been challenged to think about the role digital technology can play in facilitating collaborative research.

Most talks by guest speakers have been shared online through the group’s blog. The year’s work will culminate in the publication of new research into women artists and abstraction in post-war regional collections, and into artists’ demographics and representation in the post-war exhibitions of the John Moores Painting Prize.

Julie Brown, Sophie Hatchwell and Hana Leaper, January 2022

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