Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)

Description

This file contains correspondence, minute meetings and associated material relating to the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA).


Herbert Read co-founded ICA in 1947 alongside Roland Penrose, Eric C. Gregory, Peter Watson, E. L. T. Mesens and Geoffrey Grigson.


File 1 covers 1946 – 1949 and includes: letters to Herbert Read from E. C. Gregory; Kathleen Fitzpatrick; David H. Stevens, Director of the Rockefeller Foundation; Duncan MacDonald, Director of the Lefevre Galleries; Geoffrey Faber, Chairman of Faber and Faber; Roland Penrose; G. W. Pailthorpe and James Sweeney, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and typescript minute meetings of ICA from 1946 – 1949; typescript notes relating to ICA’s second exhibition ’40,000 Years of Modern Art’; typescript meeting minutes and correspondence relating to the ‘Modern Arts Centre Scheme’; red folder titled ‘A statement of the policy of the proposed Institute of Contemporary Arts’ containing typescript notes; press cuttings to the Editor of the Times from Herbert Read, E. C. Gregory and George Bernard Shaw about the proposed institute; typescript ‘Draft Proposal for New Constitution for the ICA’; typescript Memorandum of Association of ICA, dated 1947; typescript ICA leaflets
titled ‘A statement of the policy and aims of the proposed Institute by the members of the Provisional Committee’; 1 signed typescript letter to E. C. Gregory from Geoffrey Grigson, dated 14 Nov 1946, discussing the possibility of resigning from ICA’s committee; typescript notes titled ‘Some Suggestions for the First Year’s Activities’ and 1 typescript ‘Financial Statement’, dated 4 May 1948. The documents largely track the formation of ICA.


File 2 covers 1950 – 1959 and includes: letters to Herbert Read from Margaret K. Havinden; E. C. Gregory; Jane B. Drew, Senior Partner at Fry, Drew, Drake & Lasdun; George Christie of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Joseph P. Shure, Secretary of the International Institute of Contemporary Arts; W. McNeil Lowry, Director of the Ford Foundation; Sir Walter Worboys and Lawrence Alloway and an envelope addressed to ‘Sir Herbert Read’ containing motor vehicle papers including Read’s Massachusetts driver’s license, dated 8 Oct 1953; typescript ICA report for the years 1953 – 1954; typescript ICA report for the years 1956 – 1957; carbon copy letters from Read to Philip Hendy, Director of the National Gallery, E. C. Gregory, Joseph P. Shure, Secretary of the International Institute of Contemporary Arts, W. McNeil Lowry, Director of the Ford Foundation and Lawrence Alloway; typescript list of sponsors for ICA’s appeal for funds; typescript memorandum to the Board of Trustees,
dated 10 Aug 1959 and typescript meeting minutes and reports on ICA’s Appeal Committee negotiations, dated Dec 1959. The file also includes 1 signed typescript letter to Herbert Read from Robert Richman, dated Thanksgiving Day 1958, notifying Read of a grant of $125,000 to ICA from the Ford Foundation, 1f. The documents largely track the proposals for building an Institute of Contemporary Arts on the South Bank and the formation of an Appeal Committee for funds, including the acquisition of 17 Dover Street, Piccadilly in May 1950.


File 3 covers 1960 – 1969 and includes: letters to Herbert Read from Carolyn J. Proctor of ICA; Pierre Jeannerat and Lawrence Alloway, Hon. Joint Secretaries for ICA; Robert Richman; Lady Jamieson, Chairman of the Commonwealth Art Loans and Exhibitions at the English-Speaking Union of the Commonwealth; Jane B. Drew of Fry, Drew & Partners; Derek Beck; E. C. Gregory; G. Sluizer of the Stichting Praemium Erasmianum and Michael Kustow of ICA and typescript minutes of meetings of the ICA Advisory Council, Management Committee and Exhibitions Committee from 1960 – 1968; typescript roster of artists and writers for ICA’s Congress of Artists and Writers, dated 18-23 Apr 1960; typescript ICA report for the years 1959 – 1960; carbon copy letters from Read to The President of the Royal Institute of British Architects; Henry Moore, Roland Penrose, Dorothy Morland of ICA, Darcy Vaughan-Games of ICA, typescript balance sheets and accounts of the years ending 1963, 1964 and 1965; typescript ICA
Annual Report 1965; typescript financial breakdowns of ICA for 1968 – 1969; typescript President’s message by Read for the opening of ICA’s new headquarters at Nash House in 1968; typescript list titled ‘ICA at Nash House: Estimated Income & Expenditure for year ending April 6, 1969’. The documents largely track ongoing activities by ICA including sponsoring the Festival of Contemporary Art 1963 and their move to bigger premises in Nash House in 1968.


File 4 contains undated and miscellaneous material including: typescript ICA brochures and prospectuses; typescript document titled ‘An Art Centre for London: Foreword by Sir Herbert Read’; typescript Memorandum for the Gulbenkian Foundation; typescript document titled ‘Hans Richter’; typescript newspaper article by Ewan Phillips titled ‘The Institute of Contemporary Arts’; 9 black and white photographs of an exhibition space, showcasing paintings and sculptures.

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