The Mystery of British Culture
Print
2001 (made)
2001 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Adam Dant's serial drawings are often connected like the atoms in a chemical diagram, and it is possible to follow links between one event and another in any number of directions. His work is connected to a variety of traditions, including British narrative satire – William Hogarth, James Gillray and George Cruikshank, for example – and Dada and Surrealism.
Here Dant looks into high culture in Britain by constructing a ‘family tree’. A row of seductive apples on the uppermost branches represents the highest flyers of British culture, including the rector of the Royal College of Art, a leading gallerist and the director of the Tate Gallery. Scattered below them are the names of well-known artists, gallery owners, theatre critics and curators. These take the form of lesser fruit, nesting birds and, in the case of funding bodies, even manure deposited by two donkeys. The roots of the tree are tagged with the names of influential historical figures such as William Blake, Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol.
The American artist Ad Reinhardt made a similar pictorial diagram setting out the roots, connections and influences of contemporary art in 1946.
Here Dant looks into high culture in Britain by constructing a ‘family tree’. A row of seductive apples on the uppermost branches represents the highest flyers of British culture, including the rector of the Royal College of Art, a leading gallerist and the director of the Tate Gallery. Scattered below them are the names of well-known artists, gallery owners, theatre critics and curators. These take the form of lesser fruit, nesting birds and, in the case of funding bodies, even manure deposited by two donkeys. The roots of the tree are tagged with the names of influential historical figures such as William Blake, Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol.
The American artist Ad Reinhardt made a similar pictorial diagram setting out the roots, connections and influences of contemporary art in 1946.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The Mystery of British Culture (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Hand-coloured lithograph on paper |
| Brief description | Adam Dant: The Mystery of British Culture, 2001. Colour lithograph of a 'family tree' of contemporary British art. |
| Physical description | Landscape format print in colours depicting in caricature style a 'family tree' of British Culture in the late 20th early 21st century. The.'tree' is an actual tree with apples at the top bearing faces of some figures like Maureen Paley and Christopher Frayling, with the trunk bearing strange, worm like stubby branches. There are birds in nests and donkeys with Union Jacks over their backs. On either side of the tree there is a tract of water (parts of the Thames?) on which barges bearing names of theatres or other arts organisations. Beyond the two streams of water are pillars; on the margins numerous small blue figures hold carrots. Names of artists, dealers and curators etc are scattered throughout the image in a variety of ways in no apparent order. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Limited edition |
| Copy number | 6/40 |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Adam Dant's serial drawings are often connected like the atoms in a chemical diagram, and it is possible to follow links between one event and another in any number of directions. His work is connected to a variety of traditions, including British narrative satire – William Hogarth, James Gillray and George Cruikshank, for example – and Dada and Surrealism. Here Dant looks into high culture in Britain by constructing a ‘family tree’. A row of seductive apples on the uppermost branches represents the highest flyers of British culture, including the rector of the Royal College of Art, a leading gallerist and the director of the Tate Gallery. Scattered below them are the names of well-known artists, gallery owners, theatre critics and curators. These take the form of lesser fruit, nesting birds and, in the case of funding bodies, even manure deposited by two donkeys. The roots of the tree are tagged with the names of influential historical figures such as William Blake, Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol. The American artist Ad Reinhardt made a similar pictorial diagram setting out the roots, connections and influences of contemporary art in 1946. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.2091-2004 |
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| Record created | June 3, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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