[SIGCIS-Members] Wedgewood Museum and Archives

Bernardo Batiz-Lazo bbatiz64 at gmail.com
Wed Apr 11 07:06:14 PDT 2012


Colleagues

Together with some colleagues, I am drafting a letter to The Guardian
concerning the imminent threat to the Wedgwood collections. If anyone
would like to consider signing the letter, please let Peter Scott know
(p.m.scott at reading.ac.uk).

Cheers,

Bernardo





OPEN LETTER

We the undersigned wish to express our concern regarding the threat to
the preservation of the Wedgwood Museum and Archive ? as an integrated
collection maintained within the UK. The threatened sale could result
in the collection being broken up, passing into private hands, or
going overseas. Each of these outcomes would be a disaster for
Britain?s industrial and artistic heritage.
The Wedgwood Museum & Archive preserves the design, production,
organisational, and social histories of one of the world?s leading
ceramics manufacturers. It represents a flagship collection for the
history of British consumer goods industries; a testimony to one of
the most brilliant designers, technologists, and industrial artists of
the eighteenth century; and a key part of Britain?s industrial and
artistic heritage.  Yet, in contrast to the high priority and profile
given to campaigns to save various paintings for the nation, this
important collection appears to be relatively neglected by a national
art establishment which seems more interested in individual high
priced works by overseas painters than in saving the artistic legacy
of both Josiah Wedgwood and the numerous individual artists and
craftsmen who worked for Wedgewood from the eighteenth to twentieth
centuries. For a country which prides itself as leading the world in
creative industries and in producing high quality art for a broad
market, this seems to be an unfortunate set of priorities.




-- 


Bernardo Batiz-Lazo, FRHistS
Athro Hanes Busnes ac Rheolaeth Bancio /
Professor of Business History and Bank Management
Ysgol Busnes Bangor Business School
Prifysgol Bangor University
Gwynedd LL57 2DG  (Cymru / Wales)

b.batiz-lazo [at] bangor.ac.uk    Twitter  @BatizLazo

ffon / phone : +44 (0) 1248 388349

Home page:
http://www.bangor.ac.uk/business/staff/bernardo_batiz-lazo.en.php

Working papers:
http://ideas.repec.org/e/pba14.html

Blog:
http://www.nephis.org



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