Curtis, P. (ed.) (2013) Tate Britain Companion: A Guide to British Art. London. Tate.

I really loved the Tate Britain rehang which groups work together by contemporaneous time, so as it is lived, made and experienced, and have found the idea very influential in my own thinking about time and how lives and eras overlap.

Tate Britain completely rethought and rearranged their vast collection of British Art from 1540 to work made now. Taking advantage of a rebuilding programme, they have remodelled galleries to create a circuit or walkway through time for the visitor to discover works as they were made, rather than as they have been written into art history. They have cut down on themed collections and arranging works according to art movements, and simply chosen great examples of pieces that happen to have been made at a similar time.

This loosening of the grip of art history and over-curation allows some fascinating neighbours to sit together on walls and in our understanding, and to discover the connections for ourselves. Artist have always had a variety of concerns, yet we as viewers have become used to the way museums arrange our thinking for us – grouping together the art of a particular decade as if it was all about one idea. There are great juxtapositions. A beautiful glowing painting by Howard Hodgkin, Rain, sits in the 1980’s room next to the YBA’s  giving a more accurate sense of the time by placing an older artist, Hodgkin, with what was then emerging, such as YBA Mark Wallinger’s grafittied political work Where There’s Muck.

It’s refreshing not to have all the Pre-Raphaelite’s together. Mixed in with all the other forms of Victorian paintings, works either more towards a social realism or a romanticised view of the world, we can see what artists have always been negotiating – the multiplicity of art and ideas of their time. Walter Sickert’s 1906 painting La Hollandaise looks stunningly modern and progressive especially next to the later Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema’s A Favourite Custom 1909.

This democratisation away from art movements allows more space for individual artists, perhaps those whose work never did fit neatly into one version of art history. Crucially, it allows more work by women artists, who historically were excluded from what were usually brotherhoods. It’s fascinating that these works have been stored in the collection all along, now to be displayed and enjoyed.

The restoration and building at Tate Britain has included a confident uncovering of what was there: marble skirtings and decorative features. The galleries start off in deep clay colours, gradually lightening through greys to contemporary white, matching again an authenticity in display aesthetics. With art favourites and new discoveries, stripping away of over-explaining text and an empowering perspective on art curation, Tate Britain rewrites British Art history with a light touch.

11th November 2014