Manchester Art Gallery’s Rutherston Loan Collection: modern art and cultural value in the North of England, 1890-1950

In September 1925 the Bradford businessman Charles Rutherston agreed to donate a collection of modern English art to Manchester Art Gallery (MAG) on the condition that it would be used as a loan scheme for the purpose of educating ordinary people in Lancashire and Yorkshire about modern art. Drawing extensively on archive materials, the thesis provides a new insight into modern art in England in the first half of the twentieth century, examining the development and use of a collection in the artistic periphery of Northern England rather than the established art historical focus on artists and London as the metropolitan centre. It gives a place in art history to Rutherston, previously mainly known for being the older brother of the artist William Rothenstein, and to his wife Essil, who following her husband’s death worked with MAG for twenty years to ensure the success of the scheme but remains virtually unknown. The thesis could also be categorised as a sociological study exploring the relationship between art and society and the potential for art to deliver social benefits, addressing a previously under-researched period between the cultural philanthropy of the late nineteenth century and state patronage of the arts after the Second World War. Rutherston’s gift and the subsequent evolution of the loan scheme are interpreted in terms of the shifting concept of cultural value and in particular the relationship and tension between the artistic merit attributed to art by a metropolitan elite and art’s broader social, particularly educational, role. By exploring the dynamics between these two aspects of cultural value the thesis therefore has relevance to the contemporary challenges faced by MAG and other public galleries as they attempt to ensure their expanding collections continue to preserve our cultural heritage whilst serving a social purpose for their local communities.