UK government art collections need to be more visible to the public, a minister has said.

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Britain's state-owned art collection must become more visible nationally while remaining a valuable tool of soft power abroad, the arts secretary has said.

Sir Chris Bryant told the Financial Times that the Labor government was adjusting the dial on the government's art collection, which turns 125 years old this month, to boost public engagement.

In the past, he was a bit confined to embassies, consulates and ministerial offices and wanted to change that, he said in an interview. As a new government [we are] What I'd like to say is: More of this should be made available to the general public, and not just kept in what feels like somewhat posh places like my office or the ambassador's residence in Washington.

Established in 1899, the Government Art Collection displays works of art in British government buildings, including Downing Street, Whitehall departments and embassies. It consists of 15,000 prints, paintings, drawings and other media works by artists such as JMW Turner, LS Lowry, Dame Paula Rego, Dame Sonia Boyce and Sir Grayson Perry.

GAC also provides loans to museums and galleries around the world. The owned works will be displayed in two exhibitions in Bradford in 2025 to celebrate the northern English city's status as British City of Culture, and in London to mark the second anniversary of the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

This year the Fabian Society argued that the collection should be shared much more widely with public buildings, including hospitals, schools, libraries and courthouses. The Labor think tank noted in its report that the GAC contained no fragile items and was designed for rental purposes.

Sir Kris Bryant speaking at the Hay Festival Sam Hardwick/Alamy Live

When asked if GAC plans to expand lending to public buildings, Bryant said: Art is not only an economic reality, it is also part of our well-being. So we can display more of these works of art. The more public the better. But he insisted the collection remained important to British diplomacy.

Soft power is a really important part of what we have in the UK, and our arts community is a really important part of projecting the UK to the rest of the world, Bryant said. I hope that every French person who goes to the British Embassy in Paris will go. My God, there are amazing artists in the UK.

When you visit foreign embassies in London, all they emphasize is on the past, he added. All the art on the walls tends to be from a long time ago, and you get the feeling: great. I understand that your country is a museum. Yes. Britain has great museums, but it's more than just art museums. It's a place for absolutely cutting-edge art.

GAC's largest single purchase in 2022-23 was Alvaro Barrington's Change the game, Frieze 2022 Guy Bell/Shutterstock at 126,000.

GAC, which is managed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, spent about $555,000 on 96 acquisitions in 2022-23, the most recent year for which data is available. In 2021-22, it acquired 118 works and spent just over $810,000.

The largest single purchase in 2022-23 was 126,000 units of Frieze 2022, Alvaro Barrington's Change the game, about migration and sports. Recent acquisitions, in line with a 10-year project launched in 2018 to better represent the UK's diversity, include works by Dame Rachel Whiteread, Barbara Walker and Sir John Akomfrah, who represented the UK at this year's Venice Biennale International Cultural Exhibition.

Noting that women's work makes up 12.5% ​​of the collection, Bryant said there are some amazing British female artists from throughout the 20th century and today, and it would be great to see more of the mix in the future.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer sparked uproar by removing portraits of Liberal and Conservative leaders William Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher after arriving at 10 Downing Street last autumn.

Prime Minister Rachel Reeves replaced the portrait of former Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson with a portrait of Ellen Wilkinson, Labor Education Secretary from 1945 to 1947. Kirsty O'Connor/HM Treasury

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rachel Reeves replaced the portrait of former Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson in her office at 11 Downing Street with a portrait of Ellen Wilkinson, Labor and Education Secretary from 1945 to 1947.

Bryant, who chose works by Boyce, Perry and John Minton for his office, dismissed suggestions that the collection was being politicized and said we exchange paintings all the time.

He added that there are some very traditional paintings around and some that are completely new. He described the re-hanging of the woman's work in the state restaurant at 11 Downing Street as truly remarkable.

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