Recording Britain - Malmesbury

In 1940 with the invasion of Britain expected watercolour artists were commissioned to paint scenes of the country under threat. 15 pictures were painted of Malmesbury. They can be viewed on the V&A website. A selection are shown here all copyright the V&A. The final 3 belong to the Athelstan Museum Malmesbury.

The Recording Britain project set up in 1940 was the idea of Kenneth Clark, then Director of the National Gallery. It had 2 objectives firstly to commission paintings to record not only the war front but “the changed life of towns and villages” and secondly to provide employment for artists.

Photography was seen as “fact” whilst art would capture the “spirit of a place”.

Clarke put forward his plans to the Pilgrim Trust established by American Billionaire Edward Harkness to promote “Britain’s future well-being”, subjects were chosen by committee with input from organisations such as the National Trust and Council for the Preservation of Rural England.   Clark had already established the War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC) employing War Artists in a similar way to WWI.

The 1930s in Britain had been a time of a rising anti-industrial spirit with the rural landscape being  seen to symbolise values at the core of national identity.

The project covered areas at risk from enemy and our own forces war activity and rural scenes potentially undergoing change. It excluded post 1918 buildings and what were regarded as iconic buildings.

Invitations were sent to 10-12 artists and others followed with efforts made to match artists to subjects and local artists preferred. The committee favoured traditional art so watercolour was chosen. There must have been an element of speed, many may have been painted “en plein”

The artists covering Malmesbury were Louisa Puller whose work is shown here. She was an amateur artist from Barnsley who late lived in London. The second artist was Frances Macdonald who produced 4 paintings. She was a painter, draughtsman, printmaker and teacher, born in Cheshire. She attended the Royal College of Art and taught at Goldsmiths’ College School of Art. She lived in Scotland.

Recording Britain produced 15 Malmesbury pictures. Frances Macdonald’s are very traditional watercolours that could have been painted today. Their colours seemed to have survived well.

Those by Louisa Puller have a more “naive” style. They are all very brown, most likely due to pigments used or storage since 1940s. Watercolours do not age well.

In total 1,549 topographical watercolour drawings were produced. In the early war years they were exhibited to “stir patriotic sentiment” and in December 1943 some sent on long term loan to appropriate institution. The Victoria and Albert museum retained others.

15 pictures of Malmesbury are on the V&A website. This compares with 5 for Dover and 4 for Rye in the immediate risk area. Most are a similar size of c. 36cm by 48cm ( between A3 and A2).

In 1947 Recording Britain published a catalogue in print the aim was to show pictures of widest interest.

Wiltshire was in Volume 4 with 6 Malmesbury paintings selected for the book. Wiltshire was praised as:

“a good county rich in fine houses of all sizes and beautiful country of varied character”.

Malmesbury was regarded as a special case due to its “spectacular beauties”.

In 1989 a recall of paintings began as 50 year anniversary approached. Their quality was very mixed, watercolour can age badly and many had been neglected.

There was renewed interest in the scheme as an account of “Englishness”

In the 21st century Recording Britain is now a topic of academic study led by the V&A.

An unexpected bonus

Following a few discussions I was told that the Athelstan Museum had 3 paintings from Recording Britain painted by Louisa Puller. They aren’t listed by the V&A and were acquired by the museum in 1985. Restored by Harris of Bath, stored by Knees with the name of Hodge on the label.

The Recording Britain project in Malmesbury provides some interesting questions to ponder:

Paintings over photography?

Watercolour over other media?

Was and is Malmesbury the epitome of “Englishness”?

Would the same scenes be painted today?

How did the 3 museum pictures get to stay in Malmesbury?