Impact case study database
Unheard/Unseen: Re-presenting Neglected 20th-Century Practices
1. Summary of the impact
Heuser and Meyrick facilitate an appreciation for, and understanding of, once prominent but now side-lined creative practices and the changing values they reflect. Retrieving, documenting and re-presenting a wide range of early to mid-20th-century cultural products, they generate public interest and engagement, demonstrably impacting on creativity, culture and society. While their catalogues raisonné serve as standard reference texts for collectors, dealers, auctioneers and museum curators worldwide, their exhibitions enable key cultural institutions such as the Royal Academy of Arts, as well as regional venues, to extend their reach for the benefit of a broader, more inclusive audience.
2. Underpinning research
Discrete yet interrelated and largely interdisciplinary, Heuser and Meyrick’s investigative research challenges the ways in which cultural products are classified and historical relevance is determined. Through original archival research, analysis and contextual interpretation, they offer insights into early methods employed in the attribution of Old Master paintings [3.1, 3.2], as well as neglected media and revived practices such as 1930s tempera paintings made with recipes dating from the Renaissance, and line engraving methods modelled on Quattrocento techniques [3.3, 3.4]. Underlying these diverse projects is the central question why some works, especially products existing as multiples or disseminated via mass media, are canonised while others fall into oblivion or face critical neglect.
Examining the historic circumstances and institutional forces that shape the production and reception of works of art and audio-visual culture, Heuser and Meyrick assess largely untapped primary sources and archival materials to demonstrate how legacies are constructed, practices abandoned and traditions rejected, how spheres of influence widen and reputations fade.
Heuser and Meyrick’s ongoing research for catalogues raisonné on British printmakers, which since 2012 have been undertaken in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts, London, entails tracking down and closely examining thousands of works in public collections, private archives and commercial galleries [3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6]. When no extant prints can be traced but plates and blocks can be located, they draw on their practical knowledge to take impressions for reproduction in their publications. To document states and proofs and establish chronologies, they consult auction records, dealer catalogues and museum databases along with published writings and personal diaries, sales ledgers and correspondences.
Responding to the absence of reliable data and consistent information, Heuser and Meyrick extract detail from, and corroborate evidence with, the records of museums and exhibiting societies. Other sources include the archives of print publishers, artists’ wills and valuations for probate, as well as photographs and personal effects, to identify subjects and uncover their cultural and autobiographical references.
Heuser and Meyrick have used comparable methodologies in piecing together the biographies of collectors such as queer Welsh dilettante George Powell (1842–1882) and artist-dealer Hugh Blaker (1873–1934) [3.1, 3.2] through their dispersed collections, in order to uncover the rationales and passions that underlie collecting practices. Open to the multiple and complex narratives this yields, their research has led to unexpected and wide-ranging discoveries, outputs and impacts.
In their re-presentations of the unseen and unheard, Heuser and Meyrick jointly and individually apply their historic knowledge, curatorial experience, and interdisciplinary methodologies.
3. References to the research
3.1 Meyrick, R, ‘Hugh Blaker: Doing His Bit for the Moderns’, Journal of the History of Collections, vol. 16, no. 2 (2004); Meyrick, R, ‘Hugh Blaker and the Old Masters: The Connoisseurship of the Man Who Discovered the Isleworth Mona Lisa’, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa: New Perspectives (Fielding University Press, 2019) [Submitted to REF2]
3.2 Heuser, H, “Bigotry and Virtue: George Powell and the Question of Legacy” ( New Welsh Reader, 2015); Heuser, H, “‘Please don’t whip me this time’: The Passions of George Powell of Nant-Eos,” Queer Wales (University of Wales Press, 2016) [Submitted to REF2]
3.3 Meyrick, R. & Heuser, H, An Abiding Standard: The Prints of Stanley Anderson RA exhibition (94 works displayed) commissioned by the Royal Academy of Arts. Book and catalogue raisonné of 260 prints to coincide with exhibition: Meyrick, R. & Heuser, H, Stanley Anderson RA: Prints. A Catalogue Raisonné (Royal Academy of Arts, 2015) [Submitted to REF2]
3.4 Heuser, H, Unmaking the Modern: The Work of Stanley Anderson RA exhibition (94 works) touring: School of Art Museum and Galleries, Aberystwyth (1 February–11 March 2016); Thame Museum, Oxfordshire (2 July–5 October 2016); Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury (22 October 2016–28 January 2017); and Oxfordshire County Museum, Woodstock (6 May–18 June 2017)
3.5 Meyrick, R. & Heuser, H, Second Nature: The Prints of Charles Tunnicliffe RA exhibition (38 works displayed) commissioned by the Royal Academy of Arts (11 July–8 October 2017), and book with catalogue raisonné of 435 prints (to accompany exhibition) Charles Tunnicliffe RA: Prints. A Catalogue Raisonné (Royal Academy of Arts, 2017) [Submitted to REF2]
3.6 Heuser, H, ‘To Hell with Nature!’: The Work of Charles Tunnicliffe RA exhibition (50 works displayed) touring School of Art Museum and Galleries, Aberystwyth (12 February–16 March 2018) and Oriel Ynys Môn, Anglesey (7 September 2019–23 February 2020)
4. Details of the impact
Heuser and Meyrick’s projects for the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) have assisted a major institution in fulfilling its mission to ‘introduce new audiences to [its] art and artists’. In turn, the RA and regional tour venues have invested significant resources to stage Heuser and Meyrick’s outputs. Their RA exhibitions have attracted nearly GBP100,000 corporate sponsorship.
‘Through a combination of meticulous original research and imaginative public outreach they succeeded once again in stimulating new interest in the life and work of two lesser-known members of the Royal Academy … publishing the first definitive catalogues of Anderson and Tunnicliffe’s complete output as printmakers alongside detailed accounts of their professional lives’ [5.1].
Attendance figures for the exhibitions rank among the highest recorded for the RA’s Tennant Room displays [5.2]. Visitor books attest to their appeal and resonance [5.3]. Anderson was considered ‘frighteningly topical’, an ‘excellent exposé’ of an ‘unknown’ printmaker and a ‘marvellous discovery’ of an artist whose ‘world view is still pertinent’. Audiences appreciated the ‘great insight to a vanished London’ and ‘tremendously engaging’ narrative. The Tunnicliffe show was welcomed as ‘an eye opener’ that offered ‘much to learn as well as view’. Heuser and Meyrick were praised for ‘bringing Tunnicliffe’s work to the RA’ by viewers wanting ‘more exhibitions like this’. The effective use of the Smartify app and the integration of a family-orientated activity area in the gallery was commended for ‘keeping [Tunnicliffe’s] name alive for younger generations’.
Heuser and Meyrick’s accompanying curator talks and lunchtime lectures proved increasingly popular: Anderson (104 tickets) and Tunnicliffe (154 tickets, fully booked) [5.4]. Their video introductions on the RA’s website and Vimeo as well as Twitter broadened public reach and increased engagement.
The exhibitions were recommended as among the top three ‘must see’ shows in the UK ( The Telegraph), ‘the best things to see, do and book this weekend’ ( Country Life), and ‘Art Picks of the Week’ ( London Evening Standard). They attracted audiences interested in British wildlife (Tunnicliffe), architectural history and social history (Anderson) as well as farming methods and traditional crafts, with reviews appearing in diverse periodicals such as The Mayfair Times and the Regional Furniture Society [5.5]. Heuser re-curated the RA exhibitions to tour regional venues, further extending their reach. Accessible narratives led to invitations to deliver talks to numerous local art groups and national arts societies.
Heuser and Meyrick’s catalogues raisonné are now a principal source of reference for curators and private collectors, dealers and auctioneers, educators, and the general public. They are held by the British Museum, Christchurch Art Gallery, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Princeton, Rijksmuseum, Smithsonian and the Yale Centre for British Art. Curators, salesrooms and dealers now routinely reference ‘Heuser-Meyrick’ catalogue numbers [5.6]. Reviews of Heuser and Meyrick’s books have appeared in The Burlington Magazine and County Life [5.7]. The Tunnicliffe volume was chosen for Apollo’s September Book Competition prize, was Hatchard’s July Book of the Month and featured in their 2017 Christmas Catalogue. Heuser and Meyrick were also among Hatchard’s 2017 Authors of the Year [5.8].
Evidence suggests that Heuser and Meyrick’s outputs have influenced the art market. Beetles Gallery priced Anderson engravings such as Beer and Skittles at £1,450, typically £550–750 a few years previously, citing Heuser-Meyrick numbers. In June 2019, Abbott and Holder listed Tunnicliffe’s Goshawk at £2,250, a 300% price increase compared to previous years [5.9].
For dealer John Robertson, the Anderson catalogue became a ‘constant companion for weeks’. Consulting Actuary Stuart Southall acknowledges that one reason he become a collector was ‘having the good fortune to meet’ Meyrick whose ‘encyclopaedic knowledge’ has ‘helped shape [his] collection’, which now exceeds 4,000 prints [5.10].
Enquiries from collectors, national and international dealers, auctioneers, the media and the public demonstrate trust in Heuser and Meyrick’s connoisseurship. Heuser’s research on Powell led to regional participation in ArtUK’s Sculpture Near You project (2019–2020), talks to community groups, and an invited LGBTQ+ performance. Meyrick’s research on Blaker:
furnished Louvre curators with provenance documentation for a canvas now identified as by Georges de la Tour (2014);
resulted in video interviews with Meyrick for the Earlier Mona Lisa exhibition in Singapore (2014–15), Shanghai (2016) and Florence (2019);
informed TernTV on a Botticelli painting featured in BBC4’s Britain’s Lost Masterpieces (2019) [5.11].
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
5.1 Letter of corroboration from Ex-Director of Collections, RA, 25 February 2021
5.2 Emails from RA confirming exhibition visitor numbers: Stanley Anderson (14,722), Charles Tunnicliffe (20,993), 28 October 2015, 27 November 2017. The exhibitions are included in the cost of the general admissions ticket.
5.3 RA Visitor Book comments, An Abiding Standard: The Prints of Stanley Anderson, February–May 2015, Second Nature: The Prints of Charles Tunnicliffe, July–October 2017
5.4 Emails from RA confirming numbers, 9 June 2015, 2 October 2017
5.5 Screenshots of articles from The Telegraph, 27 February 2015; Country Life, 26 February 2015; London Evening Standard, 10 July 2017; The Mayfair Times, 27 February 2015; Regional Furniture Society, 27 February 2015
5.6 Museums worldwide database screenshots (where Heuser-Meyrick catalogue numbers have been adopted and book entries quoted), March 2021
5.7 Screenshots of reviews from The Burlington Magazine, July 2018; County Life, August 2017
5.8 Screenshot of Apollo’s September Book Competition prize, September 2017; screenshot of Hatchard’s July Book of the Month display and 2017 Christmas Catalogue; screenshot of invitations to Hatchard’s 2017 Authors of the Year reception, 25 April 2018
5.9 Screenshots of Beetles Gallery’s pricing of Beer and Skittles, and of Abbott and Holder’s pricing of Goshawk, March 2021
5.10 Screenshot of email from dealer John Robertson; screenshot of foreword from Stuart Southall, collector, benefactor and Chair of Punter-Southall Group, sponsor of RA exhibitions Anderson (2015) and Tunnicliffe (2017) to Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers’ 2018 book Print Rebels, March 2021
5.11 Emails from curator, the Louvre, 24 January 2014, 3 February 2014; Email from the Mona Lisa Foundation, with invitation to be guest at the European premier of the exhibition Earlier Mona Lisa, 17 May 2019; Email from Assistant Producer, TernTV, 24 October 2018