Civic art galleries and interwar exhibition cultures in Britain

Abstract

ABSTRACT Exploring the interwar exhibition histories of four civic art galleries in the East Midlands, this article demonstrates how such institutions in Britain became active agents in the production of interwar art exhibition cultures. It argues that networked curators were instrumental in moulding the practices and structures that fed civic exhibition production, and that their active involvement in wide-reaching professional networks such as the Museums Association meant that they also shaped art exhibition practices at a national level. By promoting public consumption of a wide range of artistic periods and styles, highlighting regional cultural assets, and supporting local art production, civic galleries in the 1920s and 30s helped to build regional capacity, ultimately providing a fertile basis for the centralisation of public and governmental support for the arts in Britain after 1940.