British Council − British Pavilion in Venice

Group Show

1930

XVII (17) Art

Henry Moore <em>Head and Shoulders</em> (1927) verde di prato, 45.7 cm in height

Henry Moore Head and Shoulders (1927) verde di prato, 45.7 cm in height, Private collection, courtesy of Michael Hue-Williams, London

The British Ambassador to Italy, Sir Ronald Graham, was an important factor in the eventual acceptance by the Government of responsibility for the Pavilion. He set out the reasons, political and commercial, in its favour and argued that Britian's absence would be interpreted as a "sign of national indifference to art". When at the 1930 Biennale the Pavilion was placed under Government patronage for the first time (Ramsay MacDonald's second Labour Government was then in power), Britian was officially represented at the opening by Graham.

Organising Committee: Charles Aitken, Sir Cyril Kendall Butler, Evan Charteris, Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill, Lady Cunard, Sir Joseph Duveen, Edward Marsh, Evan Morgan, Sir Philip Sassoon, Richard Wyndham, P.G. Konody (Secretary).
Members of the British jury: Allan Gwynne-Jones, J.B. Manson, Glyn Philpot.