THE OPEN AIR EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE AT BATTERSEA PARK, 1948: A PRELUDE TO SCULPTUREPARKS

摘要

This study addresses Patricia Strauss's unprecedented proposal to hold an outdoor exhibition of sculpture in Battersea Park, London, in the aftermath of the Second World War, identifying the logistical challenges and creative forces brought to bear toopen the exhibition, which was inspired by the social and economic upheavals of that Oeriod. Strauss's desire that the sculpture selection should be 'controversial' provided the opportunity to display the work of then relatively unknown artists, including Henry Moore, to a public audience. Her address was a genuinely egalitarian invitation. The cultural event's unusual open-air garden-like location and its democratic accessibility, achieved through inexpensive entry charges and educational explanatorysessions, were in unexpected success for the sceptical London County Council. These features helped to Promote the self-improvement ideology of the recently elected 1945 Labour government. The legacy of this exhibition was the council's patronage of thearts whilst promoting the open-air pleasures of municipal amenities, such as public parks, as suitable venues for cultural engagement; a prelude to the phenomenon of sculpture parks.