How do you celebrate turning 20 when you’re one of the UK’s leading art-gallery-cum-historic-houses. Well Compton Verney and its CEO Geraldine Collinge decided they should do it by adding “-cum-sculpture-park” to that description.
Yes, the award-winning gallery based in a Grade I-listed Georgian mansion set within 120 acres of Capability Brown-designed parkland in the English Midlands has marked two decades of being a world-class art gallery by adding even more art to its grounds. Their major new sculpture park features work by eight modern and contemporary artists drawn from around the world, including pieces by Sarah Lucas and Louise Bourgeois.
And the birthday celebrations don’t stop there — and neither does the appearance of Bourgeois. The iconic French-American artist also gets her own solo show courtesy of Tate’s and the National Galleries of Scotland’s ARTIST ROOMS, with additional loans from The Easton Foundation.
— Get my next interview delivered directly to your inbox by subscribing to my free newsletter
The gallery clearly is still in fine form after 20 years. In a recent anniversary review, Observer art critic Laura Cumming called Compton Verney “nigh on perfect”. So I had to find out more behind what makes this venue tick.
Here I speak to Geraldine, who has led the organisation since 2022. Prior to this she spent 12 years as a Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Read on to find out why a sculpture park felt like the right choice, how they selected the pieces, and what she wants the museum’s next twenty years to look like.
Hello Geraldine. So, why a sculpture park for your 20th birthday?
We want everybody to engage with art when they come to Compton Verney and for our creative offer to be one of the first things that you encounter on your visit.
Compton Verney is a creative space for everyone to enjoy and I don't want art to feel exclusive or not for you by being behind closed doors. The sculptures emerge through the landscape as you walk from the Welcome Centre towards the house — it takes your eye to the horizon and through the meadows behind the house with playful and thoughtful interventions.
How long was it in the planning? And how did you pick the sculptures?
It’s been 3 years in total. We wrote a brief and researched site specific themes thinking about different iterations of the landscape through time, including the 18th century design of our grounds which is seen as an artwork in itself.
The grounds originally created a sort of grand pastoral utopia accessible only to the aristocratic owners of Compton Verney and their guests. This is still the version that we encounter today and so the sculptures were chosen to provide different narratives, to offer a broader welcome, and to highlight the overlooked.
Artists were selected due to practice, availability, interest and relevance, and for the ability of their work to provide a series of different perspectives and narratives that resonate locally, nationally and internationally.
We thought about what impact this project could have, so chose a mix of early career artists, as well as established and renowned artists. We also worked with commercial galleries for loans.
And there’s even more Louise Bourgeois this summer too. Tell us about the new exhibition.
One of the special things about the Louise Bourgeois exhibition is that you encounter it throughout the Compton Verney site — from The Couple beautifully suspended from a tree next to the lake, to a small spider on the wall in the entrance hall.
The exhibition itself is a beautiful exploration of Bourgeois's work. I love the paintings of her arms and the landscapes that are bodies, as well as the room dedicated to her A L'Infini works, where the paintings are all around you.
Your vision is to be the leading visual arts destination in the heart of the country. Is your location a help or a hindrance?
Compton Verney is nestled in the heart of the country right at the South of the Midlands, on the cusp of the Cotswolds and a stone's throw from Oxford, Stratford and Coventry. And it’s an easy day trip from London.
I enjoy the fact that urban life isn't too far but that visitors come to enjoy the beautiful grounds. Being in our unique location does mean we need to shout even louder to attract the attention of funders, partners and the media. It’s why networks and collaborations are really important to us.
How do you think Compton Verney has changed over the past 20 years?
I've been visiting Compton Verney since I've been in the region — since I was first delighted to discover it after my relocation from London.
I see more people visiting now and it attracts a growing number of family audiences. I love watching young people exploring the Naples collection after its recent redisplay, looking at the collection through the senses. How we think about and interpret our collections has definitely changed with more contemporary responses.
People are looking for more experiences and visitor attractions are perfectly placed to meet that need, by increasing enticing ways to engage audiences.
Climate change is of course impacting our landscape and we need to change how we manage the site and respond to its different needs, including by bringing scientists and artists together to imagine new futures.
You spent 13 years at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). What lessons did the theatre world teach you about running a heritage and art organisation?
The RSC is of course also a heritage and art organisation and just down the road in Warwickshire so there are many areas of similarity between the two organisations.
It was a great privilege working there with Michael Boyd and Greg Doran and so many other creatives — I learnt an enormous amount. My role was all about changing the artists, audiences and communities that the RSC works with and I also got to collaborate with Compton Vereny! I learnt to think big and that anything was possible which is an invaluable learning to take forward to my role here too.
There’s a new government — are you now more hopeful for the future of arts and heritage in the UK?
The speeches I've heard and the direction of travel so far is very positive.
I'm pleased to hear new culture secretary Lisa Nandy saying culture wars are over and that she values the importance of art for everybody. I am also hopeful that creativity will be back at the heart of the curriculum. It's a disaster for our young people that they don't have access to the arts and that it isn't seen as an intrinsic part of our lives. Artists and culture can enable so much, from improved well-being to a better quality of life, as well as encouraging playfulness and more enquiry.
We also need to look at the infrastructure of our heritage which is such an important part of the UK — it’s creaking. Buildings need renewal and to be made sustainable, so that they aren't contributing to the climate emergency and are a part of our sustainable future.
What are Compton Verney’s ambitions for the next twenty years?
We want to become a model for a place of regeneration through art. We’re thinking about our unique site as a test place, and how we can help the world to renew, restore and grow whether that’s culturally, emotionally or environmentally.
Our ambition is to be a birth rite for people locally, so that they know Compton Verney is a place they can visit and engage with throughout their lives and they are proud to be part of it. I also want us to be an exemplar place for staff and freelancers to work, that people trust us and want to work together with us to deliver great work.
Finally, what’s your dream artist to hold an exhibition on in the coming years — living or dead?
I love to think that one of the young people from Kineton High School whose work was shown here recently as part of our Sensing Naples exhibition could go on to be a major artist and that their first solo show is at Compton Verney!
Imagine if we knew the artists who created the incredible objects in our ancient Chinese collection and they were alive to show and talk about their work.
And personally an exhibition of Louise Bourgeois' work at Compton Verney is pretty dreamy — I am really looking forward to hearing people's reactions to it over the next few months and also to have the great luxury of visiting it time and time again.
Louise Bourgeois: Nature Study runs until 6 October 2024. The new Compton Verney sculpture park is included as part of standard admission.