Festival of Britain, London: South Bank Exhibition, 1951
Start Date: 4 May 1951
End Date: 30 September 1951
Type: Exhibition
Description: A number of councils collaborated to organise the South Bank Exhibition. These included the Festival Council, Council for Architecture, Town Planning and Building Research, The Council of Industrial Design, Council for Science and Technology, Executive Committee, Presentation Panel, Architects, Theme Conveners, Designers, Main Construction, Sectional Engineers, Landscape Architects, Main Display Construction, etc.
A 'Presentation Panel' was responsible for 'the architectural and display work'. The panel was composed of the following members:
Gerald Barry - Director-General, Chairman;
Cecil Cooke - Director of Exhibitions and Deputy Chairman;
Misha Black;
George A. Campbell - Director, Finance and Establishments;
Hugh Casson - Director of Architecture;
Ian Cox - Director of Science and Technology;
A. D. Hippisley Coxe - Council of Industrial Design;
James Gardner;
James Holland;
M. Hartland Thomas - Council of Industrial Design;
Ralph Tubbs;
Peter Kneebone - Secretary.
Ian Cox designed the theme of the exhibition.
The 'Catalogue of Exhibits' notes that the order of the exhibition is important, that it is a 'narrative exhibition', and that 'it tells the story of British contributions to world civilization in the arts' (p. 12). The catalogue identifies two key factors in the 'story' of the exhibition - the Land and the People.
The importance of representing British Trade and Industry is highlighted in the Catalogue of Exhibits. British manufacturers were advised that all of the Trade Fair exhibits would be selected for the exhibition.
The Festival pavilions consisted of the following themes:
The Natural Scene;
The Country (including Rural Crafts, Pottery Display, Handmade Wooden Articles, Silversmith and a section entitled Sculptures of Murals);
The Land;
The Physical World;
The Living World;
The Lion and the Unicorn;
Homes and Gardens;
Sport.
Policy: The South Bank Exhibition was the 'centrepiece' of the Festival. The 'Catalogue of Exhibits' notes that 'the Exhibition lies in the middle of a constellation of local festivals of music and painting and drama, with which the whole country will be studded.' It continues to describe how 'the activities of these Festival months, taken together, will add up to one united act of national reassessment, and one corporate re-affirmation of faith in the nation's future' (p. 11).
Display Arrangement: The Exhibition consisted of a number of pavilions separated into two main sections by the Hungerford Railway Bridge. The pavilions in the two sections reflected the two central themes of the Festival - the Land of Britain and the People of Britain.
Exhibits
Exhibition included Spring
1951
Listed under the heading 'Sculptures and Murals', and displayed in the section entitled 'The Country'.
Exhibition included Elements in the Human Body
1951
Displayed in the section entitled 'The Physical World'.
Exhibition included Oak Tree
1951
The work was exhibited in the section entitled 'The Natural Scene'.
Exhibition included Summer
1951
Listed under the heading 'Sculptures and Murals', and displayed in the section entitled 'The Country'.
Exhibition included Autumn
1951
Listed under the heading 'Sculptures and Murals', and displayed in the section entitled 'The Country'.
Exhibition included Winter
1951
Listed under the heading 'Sculptures and Murals', and displayed in the section entitled 'The Country'.
Exhibition included Sick Boy
1951
Displayed in the section entitled 'The Land'.
Exhibition included Life size figures of Alfred Russell Wallace, Charles Darwin and Thomas Henry Huxley
1951
Displayed in the section entitled 'The Living World'.
Exhibition included Sculpture
1951
Displayed in the section 'Homes and Gardens'.
Exhibition included Bas Relief
1951
Displayed in the section entitled 'Homes and Gardens'.
Exhibition included Decorative Panel
1951
Displayed in the section entitled 'Homes and Gardens'.
Exhibition included Decorative Panel (Garden Cafe)
1951
Displayed in the section entitled 'Homes and Gardens'.
Exhibition included Sculpture
1951
Displayed in the section entitled 'Sport'.
Exhibition included Sculpture
1951
Exhibited outdoors at the 'Fairway and Fountain Lake'.
Exhibition included Sculpture
1951
Exhibited in the 'Fairway and Fountain Lake' area.
Exhibition included Sculpture
1951
Exhibited in the 'Royal Suite Fairway Cafe and Courtyard' area.
Related Events
Incorporated into The Festival of Britain, 1951
1951
The exhibition formed part of the offical Festival celebrations in London.
Participants
Exhibition committee member Cecil Cooke
1951
Cooke acted as Director of Exhibitions and Deputy Chairman of the Presentation Panel.
Exhibitors included Willi (Wilhelm Josef) Soukop
'Oak Tree '
Exhibitors included (Jocelyn) Barbara Hepworth
'Sculpture'
Exhibitors included Frederick Edward McWilliam
Multiple works
Exhibitors included S. A. Smithers
'Sculpture'
Exhibitors included Marek Zulawski
'Decorative Panel (Garden Cafe)'
Exhibitors included Anna Mahler
'Sculpture '
Exhibitors included Henry Spencer Moore
'Sculpture '
Exhibitors included S. John Woods
'Decorative Panel'
Exhibitors included John Frank Matthews
'Bas Relief'
Exhibitors included Jacob Epstein
'Sculpture'
Exhibitors included Keith Godwin
Multiple works
Exhibitors included Georg Ehrlich
'Sick Boy'
Exhibitors included Sydney S. Birnie Stewart
Multiple works
Citing this record
'Festival of Britain, London: South Bank Exhibition, 1951', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/event.php?id=msib4_1276257139, accessed 29 May 2023]
