Tracey Emin among 18 academicians to sign letter asking government to prevent sale of Unesco-celebrated museum
Christopher Le Brun and Tracey Emin are among a group of Royal Academicians calling on the government to prevent the sale of the Wedgwood Museum in Stoke-on-Trent.
Le Brun, the president of the Royal Academy, heads a list of 18 signatories to a letter published on Thursday in the Guardian. He writes: "I wish to bring to public attention the potential forced break-up and sale of one of the great British collections … Once dispersed, the collection could never be put together again."
The museum's archive is one of the 20 items and collections chosen by Unesco to represent Britain on its Memory of the World register. But, in December, a high court judgment found that the museum had to be sold to cover a £134m pension deficit. As well as thousands of ceramics by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), one of the world's greatest pottery manufacturers, the museum has thousands of documents, along with works by George Stubbs and Joshua Reynolds – "fellow Academicians", as Le Brun points out.
Waterford Wedgwood Potteries collapsed in 2009, and the state Pension Protection Fund had to take over a £134m debt to cover 7,000 employees' pensions. The museum had not been associated with the company for almost half a century, but five of its employees were in the pension scheme and, as an unintended consequence of legislation protecting pensions, the museum trust became liable for the £134m and went into administration. After the judgment, the trust's administrators are negotiating for a buyer.
The letter states: "This collection is unique in the story it has to tell of the combination of art and industry, of fine artists working within a successful industry… and with a lasting worldwide influence." It speculates that no gallery today could afford this collection, and notes the altruistic Wedgwood family never "without any fault of their own, the collection might be broken up".
Simon Wedgwood, one of Josiah's descendants, told the Guardian: "It is inconceivable that the government can allow this iconic museum to be destroyed. The lamentably poorly-drafted previous government's legislation has caused an immense amount of damage."
The museum's many supporters include the former Treasury chief secretary William Waldegrave, and questions were asked in parliament this week.