Trying to appeal to the less privileged members of society is important to today's museums and galleries, but the idea is nothing new and has its roots in the Victorian art for all movement.
The campaign for mass appreciation of the arts was led by the critic John Ruskin and other forward-thinking 19th-century artists, writers and social reformers.
But how did the art for all movement develop and does it have any relevance to today's efforts to broaden the appeal of art? A recent symposium organised by the Watts Gallery in Compton, Surrey, in tandem with the Courtauld Institute, though focusing on history, also provided much for contemporary curators to think about.
Painter-sculptor George Frederic Watts, who died in 1904, was a passionate campaigner who wanted to reawaken the nation to beauty by "arousing the best feelings and thoughts of the present".
Watts was horrified to see at first hand the effects of industrialisation. One person in 20 was destitute, but as Julian Treuherz, the art historian and the former keeper of art galleries at National Museums Liverpool, says, depicting social problems remained taboo in Victorian art:
"Poverty was regarded as inartistic and ugliness should not be shown by the artist. The purpose of painting was simply to show beauty."
Watts poured his feelings into a group of social paintings - Found Drowned, The Irish Famine, Under a Dry Arch and The Song of the Shirt. His message was that the church and state had failed the poor. But these subjects were too inflammatory to display for many years.
The Watts Gallery curator Mark Bills believes it was the socialist principles of William Morris, one of the founders of the arts and crafts movement, who provided a new impetus for the artist. In 1870, just after painting Morris's portrait, Watts wanted to found an art school along the lines of a medieval guild.
Soon after, he leapt to support Ruskin's 1871 call in the Times for contributors towards a utopia, later to become the Guild of St George, a charitable trust set up to improve society. Like Ruskin, Watts denounced the excesses of modern commerce and its dehumanising effect as "Mammon worship".
The efforts of artists and reformers to bring education and culture to common people met with opposition and was lampooned in the magazine Punch and by Oscar Wilde. Opponents of democratisation were concerned that vulgarisation might degrade "high" art.
But at a time of trade union struggles and political instability in the 1880s, Watts felt the safety of the nation was at risk from discontented people, and hoped that art would fulfil the "hunger for brotherhood", which he saw as the cause of social unrest.
Watts, concerned about the absence of a sense of beauty in people's lives, laboured to encourage education and art appreciation in south London, cooperating with philanthropist John Passmore Edwards.
They were involved in the development of the South London Gallery (SLG), which opened on its present site in 1891. The aim of its founders, led by the philanthropist William Rossiter, was to bring art to the locals.
Its parquet floor includes an inlay by artist, designer and socialist activist Walter Crane that reads: "The source of art is in the life of a people."
Christopher Jordan, the curator of the SLG, says that after the gallery opened in 1891, the number of visitors was phenomenal - 80,329 in six months. Jordan is convinced that "[the way] art engages with a wider world is as relevant today as it was in the 19th century".
New Art Gallery Walsall director Stephen Snoddy staged a Gilbert and George show at Milton Keynes Gallery in 1999, which attracted 24,000 visitors. He believes that the artists provide a link with Wattsian benevolence in their generosity towards the public and support for fellow artists.
Gilbert and George also staged an important show at the SLG in 1995, which helped raise the venue's profile enormously.
But Snoddy says that neither old-style industrial philanthropy nor direct state sponsorship are happening today outside the capital. "In Victorian times you had great collections founded by bequests from industrialists, as in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Leeds, but not today," he says.
"People get knighthoods for giving money to political parties, not the arts. Corporate sponsorship as philanthropy - you must be joking. It is a business transaction."
But there are modern initiatives to bring art to more people. In 2005 the Visual Arts and Galleries Association (VAGA) launched a Realise Your Right to Art campaign, aiming to make art more accessible, understood and enjoyed. The campaign has won high-profile signatories, including Nicholas Serota, the director of Tate.
VAGA director Hilary Gresty said that the aim is to implement the right to art asserted by the United Nations Human Rights statutes and to achieve a new cultural and social landscape by 2015.
She believes that creative culture in Britain is under-recognised and under-supported in the current political and educational agenda. "There are art-shaped holes around the country," she says, denouncing the short-term five-year agendas determined by political expediency.
Could an art for all movement for the 21st century have the same impact as in Watts' day? "No," says Julian Treuherz. "There is so much more art about you couldn't have that effect. Still, there is a great hunger for art, as evidenced by the attendance at art museums."
Some refer to indicators such as high attendance figures, a buoyant art market and large amounts of lottery spending over recent years as a cause for optimism. But many share the concern of SLG curator Christopher Jordan over "the current obsession with Olympics spending" and "not losing ground on what we have gained".
The financial problems of museums such as the Watts Gallery and Walthamstow's William Morris Gallery show the harsh realities of our times.
Corinna Lotz is a freelance arts journalist
A profile of Watts Gallery director Perdita Hunt is on p40
1870s
Art and social critic John Ruskin founds the Guild of St George to transform life and art
1880s
Rise of the arts and crafts movement first pioneered by William Morris. George Frederic Watts' wife Mary works with the Home Arts and Industries Association and sets up a pottery school in Compton, Surrey
1889
Charles Robert Ashbee, socialist, designer and founder of the Guild and School of Handicraft at Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel, seeks Watts' support for his philanthropy
1890s
Watts works with architect-designer AH Mackmurdo and his Century Guild to promote craftsmanship
1891
Watts joins Edward Burne-Jones, Walter Crane and Frederic Leighton in financing the South London Gallery to bring culture to the poor. Oscar Wilde writes The Soul of Man under Socialism.
1901
Whitechapel Art Gallery opens, the culmination of a missionary zeal to bring culture into the impoverished East End of London
20th century
During the 1917 Russian revolution the visual arts, theatre, music and art become popular among common people. The idea of transforming people's lives by better architecture and design inspires the Bauhaus movement between the wars and leads to innovative design and mass housing schemes.
The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, later to become the Arts Council, is formed in wartime Britain. Its most significant achievement is the 1951 Festival of Britain. In the 1960s artists Gilbert and George revive the art for all idea, mailing out 500 postcards to the public
21st century
Universal free access to state-sponsored museums leads to 6 million extra visits a year
The campaign for mass appreciation of the arts was led by the critic John Ruskin and other forward-thinking 19th-century artists, writers and social reformers.
But how did the art for all movement develop and does it have any relevance to today's efforts to broaden the appeal of art? A recent symposium organised by the Watts Gallery in Compton, Surrey, in tandem with the Courtauld Institute, though focusing on history, also provided much for contemporary curators to think about.
Painter-sculptor George Frederic Watts, who died in 1904, was a passionate campaigner who wanted to reawaken the nation to beauty by "arousing the best feelings and thoughts of the present".
Watts was horrified to see at first hand the effects of industrialisation. One person in 20 was destitute, but as Julian Treuherz, the art historian and the former keeper of art galleries at National Museums Liverpool, says, depicting social problems remained taboo in Victorian art:
"Poverty was regarded as inartistic and ugliness should not be shown by the artist. The purpose of painting was simply to show beauty."
Watts poured his feelings into a group of social paintings - Found Drowned, The Irish Famine, Under a Dry Arch and The Song of the Shirt. His message was that the church and state had failed the poor. But these subjects were too inflammatory to display for many years.
The Watts Gallery curator Mark Bills believes it was the socialist principles of William Morris, one of the founders of the arts and crafts movement, who provided a new impetus for the artist. In 1870, just after painting Morris's portrait, Watts wanted to found an art school along the lines of a medieval guild.
Soon after, he leapt to support Ruskin's 1871 call in the Times for contributors towards a utopia, later to become the Guild of St George, a charitable trust set up to improve society. Like Ruskin, Watts denounced the excesses of modern commerce and its dehumanising effect as "Mammon worship".
The efforts of artists and reformers to bring education and culture to common people met with opposition and was lampooned in the magazine Punch and by Oscar Wilde. Opponents of democratisation were concerned that vulgarisation might degrade "high" art.
But at a time of trade union struggles and political instability in the 1880s, Watts felt the safety of the nation was at risk from discontented people, and hoped that art would fulfil the "hunger for brotherhood", which he saw as the cause of social unrest.
Watts, concerned about the absence of a sense of beauty in people's lives, laboured to encourage education and art appreciation in south London, cooperating with philanthropist John Passmore Edwards.
They were involved in the development of the South London Gallery (SLG), which opened on its present site in 1891. The aim of its founders, led by the philanthropist William Rossiter, was to bring art to the locals.
Its parquet floor includes an inlay by artist, designer and socialist activist Walter Crane that reads: "The source of art is in the life of a people."
Christopher Jordan, the curator of the SLG, says that after the gallery opened in 1891, the number of visitors was phenomenal - 80,329 in six months. Jordan is convinced that "[the way] art engages with a wider world is as relevant today as it was in the 19th century".
New Art Gallery Walsall director Stephen Snoddy staged a Gilbert and George show at Milton Keynes Gallery in 1999, which attracted 24,000 visitors. He believes that the artists provide a link with Wattsian benevolence in their generosity towards the public and support for fellow artists.
Gilbert and George also staged an important show at the SLG in 1995, which helped raise the venue's profile enormously.
But Snoddy says that neither old-style industrial philanthropy nor direct state sponsorship are happening today outside the capital. "In Victorian times you had great collections founded by bequests from industrialists, as in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Leeds, but not today," he says.
"People get knighthoods for giving money to political parties, not the arts. Corporate sponsorship as philanthropy - you must be joking. It is a business transaction."
But there are modern initiatives to bring art to more people. In 2005 the Visual Arts and Galleries Association (VAGA) launched a Realise Your Right to Art campaign, aiming to make art more accessible, understood and enjoyed. The campaign has won high-profile signatories, including Nicholas Serota, the director of Tate.
VAGA director Hilary Gresty said that the aim is to implement the right to art asserted by the United Nations Human Rights statutes and to achieve a new cultural and social landscape by 2015.
She believes that creative culture in Britain is under-recognised and under-supported in the current political and educational agenda. "There are art-shaped holes around the country," she says, denouncing the short-term five-year agendas determined by political expediency.
Could an art for all movement for the 21st century have the same impact as in Watts' day? "No," says Julian Treuherz. "There is so much more art about you couldn't have that effect. Still, there is a great hunger for art, as evidenced by the attendance at art museums."
Some refer to indicators such as high attendance figures, a buoyant art market and large amounts of lottery spending over recent years as a cause for optimism. But many share the concern of SLG curator Christopher Jordan over "the current obsession with Olympics spending" and "not losing ground on what we have gained".
The financial problems of museums such as the Watts Gallery and Walthamstow's William Morris Gallery show the harsh realities of our times.
Corinna Lotz is a freelance arts journalist
A profile of Watts Gallery director Perdita Hunt is on p40
1870s
Art and social critic John Ruskin founds the Guild of St George to transform life and art
1880s
Rise of the arts and crafts movement first pioneered by William Morris. George Frederic Watts' wife Mary works with the Home Arts and Industries Association and sets up a pottery school in Compton, Surrey
1889
Charles Robert Ashbee, socialist, designer and founder of the Guild and School of Handicraft at Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel, seeks Watts' support for his philanthropy
1890s
Watts works with architect-designer AH Mackmurdo and his Century Guild to promote craftsmanship
1891
Watts joins Edward Burne-Jones, Walter Crane and Frederic Leighton in financing the South London Gallery to bring culture to the poor. Oscar Wilde writes The Soul of Man under Socialism.
1901
Whitechapel Art Gallery opens, the culmination of a missionary zeal to bring culture into the impoverished East End of London
20th century
During the 1917 Russian revolution the visual arts, theatre, music and art become popular among common people. The idea of transforming people's lives by better architecture and design inspires the Bauhaus movement between the wars and leads to innovative design and mass housing schemes.
The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, later to become the Arts Council, is formed in wartime Britain. Its most significant achievement is the 1951 Festival of Britain. In the 1960s artists Gilbert and George revive the art for all idea, mailing out 500 postcards to the public
21st century
Universal free access to state-sponsored museums leads to 6 million extra visits a year
