Jerwood Collection’s 2020 opening exhibition Cornwall as Crucible: Modernity and Internationalism in Mid-Century Britain, at the Barber Institute in Birmingham showcased some of our key works, alongside some recent acquisitions. Although the exhibition closed in line with national restrictions at the end of March, with hindsight we were fortunate that the exhibition was open for 4 full weeks. Inspired by the Barber’s exceptional sculpture by Naum Gabo, the exhibition was enhanced with audio recordings borrowed from the British Library’s treasure trove of Artists’ Lives recordings and also with works borrowed from Birmingham University’s collection.

Hospitals and care settings were in the forefront of many people’s minds during the year and it was particularly timely to see our planned partnership with national charity, Paintings in Hospitals come to fruition with Colour in Motion, a special loan exhibition of Ian Davenport’s work at Addenbroke’s Hospital in Cambridge. This exhibition includes 4 etchings, on loan from Jerwood Collection, hung alongside works from Paintings in Hospitals Collection, and has been specifically designed to enhance the care environment and improve patient and staff wellbeing.

During the year we loaned works to Royal West of England Academy’s St Ives: Movements in Art and Life and Dulwich Picture Gallery’s major British Surrealism show, although both sadly had shorter than planned lifespans.

 Images: Cornwall as Crucible, image Courtesy of The Barber Institute of Fine Arts; St Ives: Movements in Art and Life, Royal West of England Academy, photo: Lisa Whiting.

We were pleased to continue to acquire works for the Jerwood Collection during 2020, including an oil by contemporary artist Clare Woods. Other acquisitions focused on building our collection of prints by contemporary artists, including: Eileen Cooper RA, Michael Armitage, Bridget Riley and Yinka Shonibare RA.

Lara Wardle, Director

Eileen Cooper RA (b.1953), Kiss, 2020, Jerwood Collection, (c) Eileen Cooper/Bridgeman Images

Images: Clare Woods (b.1972), Saturday Wait, 2019. Jerwood Collection. Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts, London,  Michael Armitage (b. 1984) Dream and Refuge, 2020, Jerwood Collection, © Michael Armitage. Photo © White Cube (Theo Christelis), Bridget Riley CBE (b.1931), Sonnet, 2016 Jerwood Collection. Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts, London, Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA) (b.1962) Mayflower, All Flowers, 2020. Jerwood Collection, Courtesy Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA) and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London

This has been a devastating year for the arts. To support artists and organisations smitten by this new reality, we have sharpened our focus on our founding values of ‘responsible, independent and imaginative’ funding. We’ve continued to listen to artists and used our expertise to navigate and influence in a year of monumental change.

A year of collaboration

We have brought 50 new Host organisations onboard for the Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries programme. Partnerships with Art Fund and Aberdeen Art Gallery have amplified the Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open 2021, and Leeds Art Gallery have joined us for the next edition of Jerwood/FVU Awards. The Live Work Fund has brought us together with Wolfson Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The Linbury Trust in response to Covid-19. This £660k fund goes beyond hardship funding, with 33 awards of £20k each that will enable artists transform their practice and thrive again.

2020 was a year that started with much theatrical promise.  Rehearsals for Back to the Future and Pretty Woman sat alongside Verdi’s Luisa Miller, directed by Barbora Horakova for ENO, followed immediately by Joe Hill-Gibbins version of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, which just managed to open to excellent reviews before the theatres closed.

We rehearsed, amongst many others, Simon Evans’ production of Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses; Mona Khashoggi’s Umm Kulthum and The Golden Era; Paul Minx’ The Dog Walker for Jermyn Street Theatre, directed by Harry Burton and we were pleased to squeeze in a full punk band for Lightweight Disposable Product for Wildcard Theatre, and played at The Vaults Festival: all managed to hit the stage in some form. 

Vicky Moran’s new play No Sweat for The Pleasance Theatre also rehearsed with us, a series of real life stories from the homeless LGBTQ community, and Augmented, directed by Rachel Bagshaw and written and performed by Sophie Woolley, managed most of its tour before falling foul of the pandemic.

In March, we lost more than 30 productions overnight.