Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London - Museums Association

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Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London

Helen Hillyard sees modernist masters impressively displayed in sensitively refurbished galleries
Helen Hillyard
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London’s museums are full of surprises. Few other cities are home to such a panoply of objects and artworks, ranging from the local to the exotic, the ancient to the ultra-modern, the everyday to the downright bizarre. Among these collections, the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art has long been one of the city’s hidden gems: an unexpected shrine to the Italian avant garde.

The north London gallery, which houses one of the most important collections of Italian modern art outside Italy, has now reopened following a five-month refurbishment made possible by a grant from the Eric and Salome Estorick Foundation US. The gallery is on a busy junction near Highbury & Islington underground station. Its modest Georgian frontage belies an impressive collection – including works by modernist masters such as Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Amedeo Modigliani, Giorgio de Chirico and Giorgio Morandi – all donated by Eric Estorick (1913-93) and his wife Salome (1920-89).

Eric Estorick was by all accounts a fascinating man: he was born in Brooklyn as the only child of Jewish parents who emigrated from Russia at the start of the 20th century. He grew up to become a renowned sociologist and writer, acquainted with Alfred Stieglitz and Winston Churchill, and was also the sometime pen pal of Ernest Hemingway.
 
Eric met his wife, the German-born Salome Dessau, in 1947 during one of his early visits to Europe, and it was during their honeymoon in Switzerland that he was introduced to Boccioni’s book Futurist Painting and Sculpture (1914). His love affair with Italian modernism began here.

The newlyweds soon settled in Nottingham (where Salome’s family had moved in the 1930s) but travelled to Italy on many occasions. Here they met and befriended major artists of the day, including Massimo Campigli and Zoran Music, and soon began a frenzied period of acquisition. The Estorick Collection today reflects the couple’s individual tastes as well as their judicious “eye” for quality works.

Letting the light in

The collection’s current site at Northampton Lodge was purchased in 1994, opening to the public in 1998 (following an extensive restoration backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund).

The latest renovation comprises a complete refurbishment of the building, as well as the addition of a new glass conservatory. Architect Nathaniel Gee has overseen the development, which features a revamped cafe and entrance hall, allowing freer movement through to the gallery spaces; an enlarged shop with new cloakroom area; a new lighting system with an emphasis on natural daylight within the galleries; new air conditioning in all galleries; and upgraded bathroom facilities.

The benefits of the refurbishment are most clearly felt in the permanent collection galleries, which are split across two levels (first and second floors). Now much brighter and more airy, they maintain the domestic character of the original lodge – with architectural elements, such as fireplaces, left in situ – while borrowing something of the “white cube” setting to display the artworks to their best advantage. The result is a simultaneously intimate yet open space.
 
The works are sensitively lit, with a new LED lighting system installed throughout. In the upper galleries the window shutters have been opened once again, allowing natural light to enter and connecting the inside spaces to the outside world.

This is continued through to the contemporary glass extension at the front of the building, again blurring the boundary between exterior and interior.

Modernist masterpieces

The newly rehung collection is grouped thematically and, for the unfamiliar, text panels offer a comprehensive overview of futurism, its politics and major players. On the first floor, Umberto Boccioni’s Modern Idol (1911) acts as a quasi-altarpiece, luring visitors into the gallery.

Other standout works include Gino Severini’s dazzling The Boulevard (1910-11) and Giorgio de Chirico’s Revolt of the Sage (1916). The second floor exhibits work around the theme of “modernity and tradition”, and also feature some of the collection’s light-sensitive pieces, including a group of works on paper by still-life artist Giorgio Morandi.

It is also on the second floor that one finds an introduction to the history of the Estorick Collection. Perhaps the only drawback to the new interpretation is that this comes so late. Given the highly personal nature of the collection it would seem more appropriate for the introduction to appear near the entrance, grounding visitors before they begin their ascent through the gallery.

The layout of the temporary exhibition galleries – located on the ground floor and split across either side of the building – lends itself to interesting complementary displays.

This is used to full advantage in the opening exhibition, War in the Sunshine: The British in Italy 1917-1918, which explores the role of British forces on the Italian front through two parallel mini-exhibitions.

One focuses on war artist Sydney Carline (1888-1929), a contemporary of Paul Nash and CRW Nevinson, who painted sweeping abstract landscapes as viewed from the sky (Carline was himself a pilot). This is contrasted with a display on the work of war photographers Ernest Brooks (1878-1941) and William Joseph Brunell (1878-1960), whose images document encounters with British service personnel and civilians on the ground.

In our current Brexit climate, it’s hard not to dwell on the significance of such a visibly European collection. Neither Eric nor Salome was British by birth yet they gave their collection to their adopted home, feeling that it was here that the works would be best viewed and appreciated. It’s worth noting that the Estorick Collection could well have ended up elsewhere. In 1979 the Italian government showed interest in purchasing it, but the family refused the offer, along with others from museums in the United States and Israel.

The presence of the Estorick Collection in London acts as an important reminder of this cross-European legacy, holding with it the potential to programme important and timely exhibitions in the future. The renovation has opened up the gallery in new ways and, hopefully, will attract more of the recognition the collection deserves.

Helen Hillyard is an assistant curator at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
Project data
Cost £600,000
Main funder Eric and Salome Estorick Foundation US
Architect Nathaniel Gee
Exhibition design In-house
Interpretation In-house
Installation In-house
Lighting Stephen Cannon-Brookes
Exhibition ends War in the Sunshine: The British in Italy 1917-1918 is on until 19 March
Admission Adult £6.50; children free; MA members free

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