DLA019-0092 Transcription
17, EGERTON GARDENS,
S.W.3.
May 2nd 1930.
Dear Mr. de Laszlo,
Will you give me your advice on the following proposition.[1]
You have probably observed the appeal being made by St. Bartholomews [sic] Hospital, of which I am a Governor, and it occurred to me that a considerable sum might be raised by means of an exhibition of Pictures at Burlington House.
My idea was to collect important pictures, not necessarily of any particular school or period, from owners in and around London and if possible from some of the public Galleries, if this is permissible.
Is it possible to obtain the use of Burlington House for say 6 or 8 weeks in the autumn or winter and do you consider that such an Exhibition would be likely to prove a sufficient attraction to the multitude to make it worth while.
Personally I think both the Dutch and Italian Exhibitions suffered from having too many good
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things all crowded together and to such an extent that it was often not physically possible to get near enough to the pictures to examine or appreciate them.[2]
I would suggest showing only about half the number of pictures that were exhibited in the Exhibitions and spacing them out most carefully so that there were important Masterpieces on show in each room, which would naturally assist in distributing the spectators more equally throughout the building and they would not all be crowded into one room as invariably happens now-a-days, whilst other rooms are practically empty.
The Exhibition need not necessarily be confined to pictures, it might include sculptures as well, and pictures would be of all ages, schools and nationalities.
If you think such an Exhibition might prove an attraction I would like to put a scheme before the Treasurer of the Hospital and the authorities there would have to select some suitable individuals to organise it.[3]
Do the National Gallery, Tate Gallery, Hertford House allow pictures out on loan to another Gallery in London.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Bridgeman
SMDL
01/06/2018
[1] For de László’s reply, see DLA019-0091, letter from de László to Paul Bridgeman, 17 May 1930
[2] Possibly: Royal Academy of Arts, London, Exhibition of Dutch Art 1450–1900, 4 January–9 March 1929; Royal Academy of Arts, London, Exhibition of Italian Art 1200–1900, 1 January–20 March 1930
[3] The Treasurer of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, George Arthur Maurice Hamilton-Gordon, 2nd Baron Stanmore (1871-1957), was interested in the suggestion to hold an exhibition, but at a later date, see DLA019-0090, letter from Paul Bridgeman to de László, 27 May 1930.