Chris Ingram is a local Woking boy made good. Born in 1943, Ingram attended Woking Grammar School, but left half way through the sixth form to pursue what became a very successful career in advertising. Around 2000 he started collecting art and soon decided to specialise in Modern British Art. The Ingram Collection now amounts to some 450 pieces. When Woking Council approached him with a view to helping to fund a new gallery and museum, the idea dawned of not only funding it, but making it the permanent home of his collection. Thus was conceived what is now the strikingly modern new gallery, the Lightbox, just ten minutes walk from Woking station and with a courtyard cafe overlooking the picturesque Basingstoke Canal.
Sculpture of H.G. Wells by Wesley Harland outside the Lightbox Gallery, Woking
I counted four display spaces – a permanent exhibition on Woking’s history, a top floor gallery showing an selection of 20th century self-portraits from the collection of Ruth Bourchard, the Art Fund Gallery on the ground floor, and on the first floor a large space devoted to the Ingram Collection. The Ingram Collection is now considered the biggest privately owned publicly accessible collection of Modern British in the country. Accessibility is the key word – Ingram wants as many people as possible to share, enjoy and interact with the work, and so the curators have the interesting challenge of coming up with new themes and ideas, as well as strategies of outreach, getting schoolchildren involved, hosting lectures and so on. It is a beehive of activity.
In their own words: Artists’ voices from the Ingram Collection
The idea for this show is to divide a selection of works into six themes, arrange sofas in and around each cluster of works with headphones, so that we can listen to audio recordings from the artists who created them. These were very interesting, but only had relevance if you knew who the artists are in the first place, or had a handle on their styles.
For a start the most prominent pieces in the show were the dozen or so sculptures, and the presence who emerged strongest was Dame Elizabeth Frink (1930 to 1993). Her work is like Henry Moore but reined much much back, back towards more obvious figurativism. Everything here was highly figurative and representational.
Gogglehead by Dame Elisabeth Frink (1973)
Only a few minutes ago I read on her Tate Gallery profile page that ‘Thuggishness is a bit of a preoccupation with me.’ Maybe that’s why I liked them – they have a virile, punky threatening quality which the huge surreal figures of Henry Moore, for me, generally don’t.
Riace III by Dame Elisabeth Frink
Frink did loads of animals. There’s an admirable print of a horse on its side, and a striking one of a baboon.
Baboon by Dame Elizabeth Frink (1990)
The other dominant presence, in terms of number of pieces and impact, is Eduardo Palaozzi. There’s a lovely 1950s black and white photo of him in some London mews as the poster for the show, and a big late statue, one of the half-man, half-robot figures he perfected in the 80s and 90s, stands outside the gallery.
Standing figure by Eduardo Palaozzi
From earlier in his career there’s a sharp-nosed bust, looking a bit like the V for Vendetta face.
Mr Cruikshank by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1950)
Paolozzi began his career producing hundreds of comic defacements of 1950s consumer adverts and/or science fiction comics. There are a couple of classic examples here.
Au telephone by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1953)
Although you’ve missed it, you can still read about (or buy the book of) the recent big retrospective of Eduardo Paolozzi at the Whitechapel Gallery. Or read my review of it. There were maybe 40 works in the show, which gave a strong sense of the visual world of the middle decades of the twentieth century.
Pandarus by Kenneth Armitage (1963)
Standing out from the 1950s earnestness was a piece of sexy playfulness by British Pop artist, Allan Jones (b.1937).
What with sitting on the cosy sofas and listening to recordings of Paolozzi, Frink et al giving their thoughts on issues like leaving home, or finding a place in the world, this was a very interesting and enjoyable way to spend an hour.
For a confirmed Londoner, the Lightbox was a real find and I happily took out a year’s membership at a bargain £7.50.
Related links
- In Their Own Words: Artists’ Voices from The Ingram Collection continues until 30 July 2017 @ the Lightbox, Woking
- Ingram Collection website
- Ingram Collection of Modern British Art Wikipedia article
Books & Boots 