Summary of the impact

Research into the artist Dora Gordine established her importance in twentieth-century art and design, and her significance in the wider cultural and political arena. This research led to the establishment of an ambitious large-scale exhibition on Gordine at Kingston Museum.

This exhibition had a lasting beneficial impact on the practices and capabilities of the museum, enabling it to use the skills and experience gained in the Gordine exhibition to launch a new exhibition on Eadweard Muybridge and to build new partnerships with the British Film Institute and the Tate. This has significantly changed the culture and approach of Kingston Museum, enhancing its local, national and international standing.

Underpinning research

In 2004, Kingston University (KU) researchers Lloyd and Black undertook pioneering research on the archive and sculpture and drawings of the hitherto little-known Estonian-born artist Dora Gordine held at Dorich House Museum. This AHRC-funded research was the first to be undertaken on Gordine and it established the significance of her artistic practice in the wider cultural and political arena as part of an interdisciplinary enquiry into her contribution to twentieth-century art, design and architecture in an international context. Black's research was disseminated through the touring exhibition (where he acted as advisor) and the accompanying catalogue, Embracing The Exotic: Jacob Epstein and Dora Gordine (2006); his essay on Gordine's inter-war ethnic heads in Agency and Mediation: Women's Contributions to Visual Culture (2008) and the monographic study Dora Gordine, Sculptor, Artist, Designer (2007). Here Black's research focused on the international context of Gordine's artistic training, practice and reception in Estonia, Paris, Berlin, Singapore, London, and Hollywood and established the first catalogue raisonné of the artist's sculpture. Lloyd's research in the latter publication focussed on the relationship of Gordine's sculpture to that of her contemporaries in Britain and Europe.

The research methods of establishing the wider contexts for Gordine's practice as an émigré artist in Britain alongside new research about the Kingston-based archive and collection of Gordine and their relevance to other artists, including contemporary practitioners, were the direct stimulus to the exploitation of the research in the development of a three-site exhibition of Gordine and an accompanying research-informed public engagement programme of workshops, film screenings, lectures and school events in collaboration with Kingston Museum and Kingston University's Stanley Picker Gallery, realised 11 February to 4 May 2009.

During the course of planning the exhibition from 2008, Black (as co-curator) and Lloyd (as advisor) undertook new research into Gordine's drawings based upon the Dorich House Museum Collection and the work of her contemporaries in the UK, Europe and Singapore [co-authored publication, Subtlety and Strength (2009)]. This research directly influenced the content of the exhibition devised by Black and the Curator of Kingston Museum, and the accompanying public engagement programme.

This research was undertaken from 2004 to 2008 at Kingston University by Fran Lloyd (Director of Postgraduate Studies, 2002-4; Professor of Art History, 2005-present) and Dr. Jonathan Black (Postdoctoral Researcher, 2004-6; Research Fellow, 2006-11; Senior Research Fellow, 2012- present) in collaboration with Brenda Martin (Curator of Dorich House Museum, 2004-present)

References to the research

Research Outputs

Exhibition: Ben Uri Gallery, London (10 January-19 March 2006); Hatton Gallery, Newcastle (27 March-20 May 2006): Output supplied by HEI on request

• Peer Reviewed

• Publication Grant to Ben Uri: Paul Mellon Centre for British Art, 2005, £5,000

• Exhibition Grant to Ben Uri: Henry Moore Foundation Grant, 2005, £5,000

• AHRB Grant Report (see [2] below)

First monographic study on Dora Gordine: Output supplied by HEI on request

• Peer reviewed

• Lloyd, AHRB Grant: The artistic practice of Dora Gordine FRBS (1898 - 1991): Paris, Singapore, and post-war America and Britain, 1 September 2004-31 August 2006, £96,928

• Lloyd, AHRC Dissemination Grant: 2006, £10,500

• Lloyd, Final report on AHRB/AHRC Grant graded at A+

• Black, Publication Grant: Paul Mellon Centre for British Art, 2007, £5,000

• Peer reviewed publication, published by specialist independent academic press

• Lloyd, Final report on AHRB/AHRC Grant graded at A+

• Peer reviewed

• Lloyd, Publication Grant: Henry Moore Foundation, 2007, £5,000

• Peer reviewed: AHRC KCP Grant, 2009

Research Grants

Lloyd and Martin, 09/10/2008-1/6/2009, HLF funding to support 3 site exhibitions in Kingston and accompanying public events programme, including commissioning of contemporary film artist's response to Gordine's life and work, £46,000 (YH-08-00549). Final report highly commended.

Lloyd, AHRC Knowledge Catalyst Grant KCP (AHH5002861) 1/10/09- 31/4/2010 for `Development and Implementation of a web portal linking Kingston Museum's Eadweard Muybridge Collection to International centres and resources of Muybridge's work', £19,724

Details of the impact

A programme of engagement between KU researchers and Kingston Museum enabled the museum to launch a Dora Gordine exhibition that drew strongly on the underpinning research described in Sections 2 and 3. This was a significant new development for Kingston Museum, providing the museum with new approaches and new expertise in creating research-based exhibitions. The museum went on to use this knowledge and experience to exploit the potential of previously under-used collections and to establish new and productive relationships with world- leading institutions. In this way, the underpinning research and the engagement between the museum and KU researchers gave the museum a new outlook and enhanced status, changing it from a locally-focussed institution to one with a national and international outlook.

In June 2007 KU researchers Black and Lloyd, the curator of KU's Dorich House Museum [DHM] and the Director of the Stanley Picker Gallery [SPG] at KU, began detailed discussions with Kingston Museum's curator about exploiting the research into Dora Gordine through a collaborative exhibition and accompanying public engagement programme in Kingston. The underpinning research, based upon the DHM collection and archive, foregrounded Gordine's artistic practice as part of a wider trans-national cultural encounter and identified overlooked aspects of modernity that had continuing resonance and importance for contemporary audiences and the understanding of cultural heritage at a regional, national and international level. The research focus on the Gordine archive and collection and an examination of the ways in which these artefacts enabled new insights into the contemporaneous context of the creative process and the artist's writing of history for the future informed the Kingston Museum collaboration.

This underlying research, together with KU researchers curatorial experience, enabled Kingston Museum to co-develop the Gordine exhibition programme, their first ambitious large scale collaborative project. The Gordine Retrospective and accompanying public programme ran from February to May 2009 [2]. Black and Lloyd's research impacted upon the conception and content of the exhibition, which included a text and image timeline devised by Black, a 10 minute biographical film scripted by Black, and seven loan items from the Ben Uri Gallery, Tate, Fitzwilliam Museum and Arts Council, alongside 40 Gordine works. [9]

A Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant awarded to KU in October 2008 funded a programme of events at Kingston Museum, including a conference led by Black and Lloyd (The Impact of Artist- Émigrés from Eastern Europe on British Culture, Keynotes: Richard Cork, Stephen Mansbach, Kingston Museum, 26/02/09; 55 attendees). This conference contributed to the development of Kingston Museum's national and international profile. [5]

Through the Gordine retrospective Kingston Museum gained knowledge and experience of different ways that a historical collection and archive could be used to generate new material which would have relevance to contemporary audiences. This included commissioning new work; production of a biographical film; and collaborating on an accompanying public engagement programme underpinned by quality research based on a scholarly understanding of the Kingston collection and archive.[5], [8], [9].

As a direct result of the Gordine exhibition and Kingston Museum's need to establish the wider significance of their own Muybridge Collection and Archive, KU and Kingston Museum collaborated on the AHRC Knowledge Catalyst programme to develop the world-wide Muybridge Portal [3]. The project was co-led by Lloyd and Kingston Museum curator Cook, and Alexandra Reynolds (now an AHRC-funded PhD student at KU) was appointed as the knowledge exchange researcher. Utilising the Gordine project research methodologies, the portal brought together for the first time 120 major public and private Muybridge collections from around the world and established Kingston Museum's collection as one of the five most significant world-wide [6].

Through the Gordine collaboration, Kingston Museum gained new skills and expertise in HLF applications that benefited its subsequent Muybridge Revolutions exhibition, which was awarded an HLF grant in 2009 with Reynolds employed as assistant curator. [4] The 2010 exhibition, co- curated with KU, included a commissioned film on Muybridge based on the Gordine model. [7]

The research and increased understanding of the Muybridge collection also helped the museum build formal partnerships with the British Film Institute through the launch of the Muybridge Portal (May 2010) and the Tate as part of the Muybridge Tate & Kingston Museum exhibition collaboration (2009-10) where Kingston Museum's Key Stages 2-5 material developed by Reynolds was used by the Tate Schools programme. [5], [10]

Through exploiting the research of the KU Visual & Material Culture Research Centre, working with KU's DHM and SPG, and in collaboration with Kingston Museum, the museum's regional, national and international profile has been enhanced through funded collaborative exhibitions, websites, publications, research-led events and outreach workshops. The raised profile has resulted in a HLF invitation to submit a major application for a Muybridge Research Centre, submitted in June 2013. Unit researchers have substantially transformed the way in which Kingston Museum understands and utilises the role of research in interpreting cultural heritage for audiences beyond academia (as evidenced above) and contributed to cultural enrichment through public engagement.

These activities, underpinned by the generation of new knowledge and visual and material culture research methods, have significantly changed the culture of Kingston Museum and their approach to cultural heritage. This change has taken Kingston Museum from a locally-focussed institution to a museum with a national and international outlook making strong use of its particular local resources.

Sources to corroborate the impact

[1] Julia Holberry Associates Heritage Consultancy, Strategic Review of Kingston Museum's Heritage Service, Commissioned by Royal Borough of Kingston, 2013 [Gordine and Muybridge]

[2] Kingston Museum Newsletter, April 2009, issue 57: http://www.kingston.gov.uk/museum_newsletter_april__2009.pdf

[3] Kingston Museum Newsletter, July 2010, issue 62: http://www.kingston.gov.uk/museum_newsletter_july_2010.pdf

[4] Kingston Museum Newsletter, October 2010, issue 63: http://www.kingston.gov.uk/museum_newsletter_october_2010.pdf

[5] HLF Report for Gordine and Muybridge exhibitions and the related public engagement programmes, plus user feedback for events. All available on request.

[6] Muybridge Portal: Penelope Curtis, introduction, Muybridge Catalogue, Tate, 2009

[7] Peta Cook, Alex Reynolds, David Falkner, Muybridge Revolutions Catalogue, 2010

[8] Head of Cultural Services and Lifelong Learning, Royal Borough of Kingston [Letter] (Corroborating Statement identifier: 1)

[9] Curator of Kingston Museum [Letter] (Corroborating Statement identifier: 2)

[10] Curator of 18th and 19th century British Art, Tate Britain (Curator of the Muybridge retrospective at Tate Britain) [Letter] (Corroborating Statement identifier: 3)