Part of my role as president of the Royal Academy is not only to defend the interests of artists and architects in this country, but to safeguard and maintain the importance of art to the welfare of the country. Therefore, as one of the first acts of my presidency, I wish to bring to public attention the potential forced breakup and sale of one of the great British collections – Wedgwood in Staffordshire.
The Wedgwood Museum contains a unique collection of ceramics, artefacts and archives covering the last 250 years of industrial and artistic history. It contains 10,000 pieces and paintings by our fellow Academicians, Reynolds and Stubbs. A collection is always stronger than its component parts. But 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, loved by its employees and the country and with a lasting worldwide influence. In its philanthropy and care for those who worked there, Wedgwood provides a model for future industrial success in an area which is the epitome of past industrial achievement.
The museum is on the outskirts of Stoke-on Trent, near to the factory. The family founded the museum in 1906, never believing that, without any fault of their own, the collection might be broken up as a result of what the minister for culture, Ed Vaizey, described as a "complicated piece of legislation with draconian and unexpected consequences".
It is highly unlikely at this time that British galleries could afford to bid for work of such high quality at any ensuing auction. The account of manufacturing genius that the collection illustrates so vividly and completely in the home of British pottery would be scattered and sold abroad. Once dispersed, the collection could never be put together again; it could never again serve as an example of the heights to which a combination of art and industry may rise.
We therefore appeal to the government for advice and help as to how this collection may be saved for the nation.
Christopher Le Brun President, Royal Academy of Arts, and Tony Bevan RA, John Coombe, Eileen Cooper RA, Gus Cummins RA, Richard Deacon RA, Spencer de Grey RA, Tracey Emin RA, Piers Gough RA, Nigel Hall RA, Paul Huxley RA, Eva Jiricna RA, Allen Jones RA, Michael Landy RA, Alan Moses, Humphrey Ocean RA, Charles Saumarez Smith, Alison Wilding RA