Alan Bowness and Postwar Art

The Manton Centre for British Art is pleased to present a symposium on Alan Bowness’s invaluable contribution to post-war art in Britain.

The landscapes of culture in Britain changed dramatically in the postwar period, powered by the creation of the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1946. Contemporary art moved centre stage, regional collections and exhibitions were encouraged, while Art History expanded as a discipline with the new universities in the 1960s. Alan Bowness was instrumental in many of these transformations. He described himself as “art historian, teacher and administrator”.

Bowness was an influential teacher at the Courtauld from 1957 to 1980, and his students peopled the new Art History Departments. Best known as Director of the Tate from 1980-1988, his early experience as Regional Art Officer for the Arts Council convinced him that works of art should be accessible to a broad public and not just in London. This led to the creation of Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives; a new wing at Millbank; and the launch of the Turner Prize. Bowness developed an astonishing number of institutions, museums, archives and collections outside London, and improved the Tate’s permanent collection. Throughout his career Alan Bowness made exhibitions and wrote about art as a scholarly art historian, a critic, and a supporter of contemporary art.

On the publication of a collection of his writings, this symposium will take the form of conversations between people who worked with Alan Bowness in different contexts – exhibitions, teaching, museums, acquisitions, publications. The event will address four themes from his work, with contributions from leading art historians, museum curators, critics and artists.

This event is organised by Professor Steve Edwards, Manton Professor of British Art and Director of the Manton Centre for British Art, The Courtauld.