By Jessica Wood
Published September 24, 2023
More than 50 artists who came from all over the world during the 20th century to live and work in Britain and contributed to its visual culture are the subject of a wide-ranging exhibition, Crossing Borders: Internationalism in Modern British Art, at the 32nd British Art Fair scheduled for September 28 – October 1, 2023 at Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York HQ, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY.
Comprising a lively mixture of media – from small works on paper and photographs to large paintings and bronze sculptures – and co-curated by British Art Fair advisory committee member, art columnist Colin Gleadell and art historian Monica Bohm-Duchen, Crossing Borders sets out to reveal the diversity and internationalism that changed the face of Modern British Art.
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Every artist represented came to Britain for various reasons, though some can be grouped together. The exhibition is therefore divided into three main sections. The first covers Jewish immigrant artists, the second section focuses on immigration from countries which share histories as British and other European colonies and the third features artists from elsewhere across the world who chose to make the UK their home, mainly in the second half of the 20th century. Each section is accompanied by a detailed text.
Part I is titled 20th Century British Jewish Artists and features figures both familiar – among them, David Bomberg and Mark Gertler from the first wave of immigrants, and Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach from the second – and less familiar – among these, Clara Klinghoffer, Peter Kinley and Henry Inlander.
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Part II, titled Immigration and Diversity in the Post-War British Art World , comprises work by twenty artists who arrived in the UK from India, Pakistan, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ghana, Sudan, Algeria, South Africa and the Caribbean, countries which had connections to Britain through their colonial histories.
The third and final section of Crossing Borders , titled Going Global , looks beyond the first two sections to the diverse array of artists who arrived from as far afield as Taiwan and America, consolidating Britain’s place in the truly global art ecosystem that in the early 21st century we take almost for granted.
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Crossing Borders is a fair-wide collaboration, as British Art Fair’s exhibitors, past and present, have submitted works to the curators for selection for the exhibition. While it cannot claim to be comprehensive, the show will make for visually stimulating and thought-provoking viewing. All works are for sale.
Opening Hours:
Collectors’ Preview, Thursday 28 September, 12noon – 9pm Friday 29 September, 11am – 8pm
Saturday 30 September, 11am – 6pm
Sunday 1 October, 11am – 5pm
Last entry is half an hour before the fair is due to close.
Ticketing:
Tickets are for sale at https://bit.ly/BAF23Tickets
Tickets Collectors’ Preview: £50
General Admission: £20
Concessions: £18; Under 16s: Free (booking required and must be accompanied by an adult). Prices listed above are not inclusive of booking fees.
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