Why Museums and Galleries lend and borrow works of art
'Pope I, Study After Pope Innocent X by Diego Velázquez' by Francis Bacon - from the collection of Aberdeen City Council: Archives, Gallery & Museums - is currently being enjoyed by visitors at a major exhibition at the Royal Academy in London 'Francis Bacon: Man and Beast'.
In return, the Royal Academy has lent a beautiful work by Sir John Everett Millais, 'A Souvenir of Velázquez to Aberdeen'. You can see it on display until April in Gallery 18: People and Portraits. In this blog Loans Officer Emily Goalen looks at why museums and galleries borrow from each other.
A Souvenir of Velázquez, 1868, oil on canvas, Sir John Everett Millais, Royal Academy of Arts
When I meet someone new and they ask me what I do, I don’t mention my job title - Loans Officer – as it often causes them to think that I work in finance.
In fact, when we talk about loans in museum terms, it refers to lending objects from our collection as well as borrowing for our own exhibitions and displays.
You might wonder why museums need to borrow when they often have vast collections, a large proportion of which are in store. Firstly, before we decide to borrow, curators explore our own collections thoroughly. If they find there isn’t anything that clearly tells the story they are planning to tell, they then start to research other collections. For example, a gallery might have an impressive collection of self-portraits of an artist but requires one from their early career to illustrate the evolution of the artist’s style or technique.
Loans between accredited museums and galleries are usually free (though the borrower tends to cover some costs such as conservation work, packing and transport). Borrower and lender can benefit from sharing collections:
Access – the role of the gallery and museums is to care for and share the fantastic collection held by the city. So many of these amazing artworks cannot be displayed at one time, so lending to other galleries means we allow people from all over the world to access these publicly owned collections.
Profile – we are currently lending 'Torso' by Barbara Hepworth to the Hepworth Wakefield. Of course, they have their own incredible collection of Hepworth’s work but for this exhibition they were looking for examples of key early carvings in wood and stone. The fact that our collection is of high enough calibre to be requested by institutions such as the Hepworth Wakefield, the National Gallery, Tate, the Royal Academy, Musee D’Orsay and the Van Gogh Museum (to name a few), indicates that our collection is highly valued, not just within Aberdeen but all over the world. Conversely, if a well renowned National institution agrees to lend a work of art, it immediately raises the profile of the organisation and the exhibition they are lending to.
'Torso', 1932 © Bowness, Hepworth Estate (2003)
Barbara Hepworth: Art and Life
Promotion – lending our collection is an effective form of marketing for Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums. It means we are able to reach audiences all over the world. For example, in 2019 we lent seven paintings to an exhibition that toured three venues in Japan. We know that the exhibition was seen by 162,000 people. With each exhibition there is the potential for loans to appear in exhibition catalogues and on the museum's social media, again extending the reach of our name and attracting new audiences. We hope that, by seeing our collection in their home country, we would encourage people to come and see what else Aberdeen has to offer.
Partnership - working closely with other museums and galleries enables curators to network, sharing research, ideas and making links between collections. Often joint projects are born out of a loan including future exhibitions that would come to Aberdeen for us all to enjoy.
Research – with each new exhibition comes a new body of research, often by leading specialists in those areas. The works that we lend are analysed in a different context each time.
Take as an example, some of the exhibitions that we have lent Monet’s La Falaise à Fécamp to:
'Reflecting Nature, Monet and Boudin on the Normandy Coast'
'Impressionism and Scotland'
'Monet: A Step Beyond Impressionism'
'La Falaise à Fécamp, Claude Monet, 1881
It’s now back in Aberdeen - you can enjoy it in Gallery 10: French Impressions at Aberdeen Art Gallery.
Each exhibition looked at a different aspect of the artist’s life and career and our painting will have been scrutinised within these themes providing valuable information that our curators might not have had time to unearth themselves. The research adds to our knowledge of the work and can inform our own future exhibitions.
Conservation – We have a rolling programme of conservation (or restoration) for our collection but it's an expensive process. If a work requires conservation before loan, it’s the borrower's responsibility to cover these costs. This means we are able to treat works that might otherwise have waited years for conservation. 'Pimlico' by Sir Walter Sickert is currently on display at the Walker Art Gallery for the exhibition Sickert: A Life in Art | National Museums Liverpool It’s looking fantastic having received treatment to remove layers of discoloured varnish. Following display at the Walker it will travel onto Tate Britain for another exhibition 'Walter Sickert' in 2022 – Exhibition at Tate Britain | Tate. This meant that the Walker and Tate Britain were able to team up to cover the costs of conservation and you can see from the images below that it was a worthwhile investment The Conservation Studio, 27 Duke Street, Edinburgh EH6 8HH
'Pimlico' by Sir Walter Sickert, around 1937, before, during and after conservation by Owen Davidson
Edinburgh www.conservation-studio.co.uk
These are just some of the many benefits to be gained from lending and borrowing. For those of you anxious about losing sight of your favourite work, most loans only last 3-6 months, occasionally 12, so you won’t have to wait long before you can enjoy it again. Another key element of lending between museums and galleries is reciprocity. Regularly lending and establishing partnerships enables us in turn to borrow some incredible exhibitions for you to see, as well as securing individual loans of works that might otherwise only be seen if you have the means to travel beyond Aberdeen.
