The Ruth Borchard Collection of Self-Portraits

British Self-Portraits in the Twentieth Century

The earliest in this remarkable collection of 100 British Self-Portraits include work by Raymond Coxon, Ithell Colquhoun, Carel Weight and Anne Redpath from the inter-war years, but most are from the 1950's and 1960's, helping to evoke an entire period in British art and its myriad developing strands. All kinds of artistic influences are evident—art school academicism, Camden Town, Expressionism, the Euston Road School and Kitchen Sink.

Ruth Borchard started collecting British self-portraits in the late 1950s, her interest spurred by viewing art school shows, the ‘Young Contemporaries’ exhibitions of student art and by Jack Beddington’s book ‘Young Artists of Promise’. With astonishing bravado, she set herself a ceiling of 21 guineas for any one picture, irrespective of the artist’s fame, and usually succeeded. ’Dowsing for talent’, she wrote to the artists, saw their work in exhibitions and visited their studios.

Among young artists spotted by Ruth Borchard in their student days were Mario Dubsky, Peter Phillips and Patrick Proctor; along with Anthony Eyton, Anthony Green, Ken Howard, David Tindle, Euan Uglow and others relatively early in their careers. As the collection and her confidence grew, she approached artists at the height of their careers; some declined to participate, but many, such as Michael Ayrton, Roger Hilton, Felix Topolski and Keith Vaughan co-operated. Most were intrigued by the project, while Ayrton wrote, “I will accept the 21gns and I much admire anyone who can obtain so many works for no more than that figure.”

Born in 1910 and brought up near Hamburg, Ruth Borchard and her husband Kurt fled to England in 1939 to escape Hitler’s National Socialists. They had four children. By the time she stopped buying self-portraits her collection amounted to 100 works, spanning fifty years, from 1921 – 1971. Apart from drawing attention to an extraordinary number of almost unknown paintings and drawings, the collection evokes the atmosphere of the London art world shortly after the Festival of Britain and, as such, represents a remarkable historical archive.

Ruth Borchard died in Jerusalem in 2000, and it is to her heirs’ credit that the collection has been kept intact and is now based in London, at Kings Place Gallery, where it will be shown annually. In 2010, one hundred years after her birth, a national self-portrait prize will be announced, with the intention that the collection will continue to grow in the spirit of the original.

Publication
FACE TO FACE: BRITISH SELF-PORTRAITS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Philip Vann Published by Sansom and Company Ltd. 220 colour and 25 b/w illustrations, 312 pages.
Exhibition Price: hardback £30, softback £20
To order please email kpg@kingsplace.co.uk