Project aims to put hidden Suffolk artworks on display

An art historian and lecturer is looking to attract a new audience for hundreds of artworks currently in storage at galleries and museums.

Richard Morris, of Woodbridge, Suffolk, has launched the Everyone’s Art project in order to research and exhibit pieces rarely seen by the public.

The 60-year-old, who specialises in 20th Century British and European paintings, hopes the scheme, beginning in Suffolk, will eventually be adopted nationwide.

“I am trying to get all these works out so the public get to appreciate them and appreciate the people that lived amongst them,” he said.

Among the works Mr Morris wants to put on display is Harry Becker’s Two Men Clearing Banks.

It belongs to Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service (CIMS), jointly run by Colchester City Council and Ipswich Borough Council.

It was on display at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, from 1995 to 2019 and is currently in storage, but Ipswich Borough Council said it might be back on show next year as part of an exhibition focusing on the working landscape.

Another is Henry Bright’s 1830 crayon and chalk drawing Symphony, which has not been on display since 1997 due to its delicate condition.

Mr Morris said he would like some of the works in storage, many of which were by lesser-known late Suffolk artists, to be displayed in community centres, churches and “places where people can easily go”.

“If you put up an exhibition with an obscure artist’s name, nobody is going to go – that’s why there are lots of exhibitions on Gainsborough or Constable,” he said.

“Some of these artists were rivalling very well-known artists in their day, and that is the unfairness of the art market, really, that it is only painters that are patronised by well-known people that get a look in.

“So, it’s just about trying to reverse that and see how we can make sure this work is appreciated for what it should be.”

Gallery curators, however, have previously put the decision to remove some artworks from display down to other factors.

It was previously revealed that the Tate showed about 20% of its permanent collection, while The Louvre showed just 8%.

The Guggenheim, meanwhile, only showed 3% of its collections and the Berlinische Galerie just 2%.

Its director Thomas Köhler said: “We don’t have the space to show more.

“A museum stores memory, or culture. But here, like in other museums around the world, many works rarely, if ever, see the light of day.”

Mr Morris, who has lectured at The Courtauld Institute of Art, in London, and previously worked on a project to digitise the works of Rembrandt, believes the first part of the project will cost about £10,000 – money he has received from a private backer.

He said the majority would be spent on frames, display easels, transport and insurance.

Ipswich Borough Council said it “holds a large number of artworks in its collection” but it was “not possible to have all items on display at any one time”.

It said its loan programme gave exhibitors the chance to borrow artworks, provided they adhered to the scheme’s rules.

It said factors including security, environment, insurance, light levels, staffing and conservation were among those that must be considered.

“Our excellent Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service Collections team work hard to showcase our artworks as part of our often-changed hangings in Christchurch Mansion as well as our expertly curated exhibitions,” a spokesperson added.

“It is keen to support loaning objects to museums across the UK and abroad.”