Mr. Chairman, my Lord Mayor. First may I say how very grateful I am for the invitation on behalf of the British Antique Dealers Association to come and open the Fair although I understand that the phrase “open” is one which should only be used in its technical sense because we already hope that a large number of profitable transactions have occured. I must also thank Mr. Chairman for providing this rather unusual setting, for a politician is very much Romeo and Juliet and you have, of course, used the occasion to great effect to press your suit on behalf of the antique trade.
Perhaps I should say in the words of Orlando to Adam in “As You Like It” “how well in thee appears the constant service of the antique world.” Now this fair is of course unique and there is no parallel in the world, neither in Paris nor in Delf nor in New York nor in Florence, and its unique in many ways, it is of course a true trade fair in the sense that many of the things that are on display are sold, the prices which though they may appear high are not unreasonable, or so I'm told. It is unique in that it helps to keep London as the world centre for traffic in the world of art, and we should all be concerned with that, and particularly should Governments be concerned with it, and I'm very glad that it was my party that helped to make currency available over twenty years ago so you could go out and buy things from other nations. We say world traffic in art, we must remember traffic is not a one way street although frequently we are concerned that a number of beautiful things should not be exported, we must remember that we do also import many things in this country and then some of them stay here and some are re-exported, but I think it would be a world that would be very much the poorer if we were not allowed any exchange between Europe and the Far East and the Americas, so it is a two way traffic. Art is bought in and also some of our great possessions are sold, but at least we get something to compensate for those which go out. [end p1]
You spoke about conserving our heritage Mr. Blewitt and I am so glad you used the word “conserve” . Firstly, it is a good word. Secondly it is now a very fashionable word and I hope will be even more fashionable in days to come and thirdly I think it so much better a word than that other one “preserving” which always reminds me of the store cupboard. Although I think thats a very good thing to do as well.
I think if we think for a moment of the great heritage or whatever the word we like to use, it is very salutory to remember our beautiful buildings and squares were produced before we had town planning. I hope you won't take that amiss my Lord Mayor! I am as much responsible as you are, and it is very important that we conserve this heritage for our children. It is also perhaps salutory to know that we wouldn't have beautiful parks and squares unless at some time someone had actually held the land from development for the time being, but that is a heritage that we must pass on.
We also have a heritage of beautiful things in the days when people made great objects with a great sense of achievement and the love of creating something which was beautiful and elegant for itself as well as for the person who commissioned it. Perhaps Mentmore as you mentioned is one example of both these things. You did mention that perhaps it was a great tragedy that Mentmore was not saved for a nation as a whole. Perhaps the real tragedy is that capital taxation is such that Lord Rosebery had to sell it at all, and could not pass it on as an entity still associated with the family. Although I did take that view, I'm not sure that Sotheby's would share it, but let us be very pleased that the sale was so successful. [end p2]
I think many of the Museums in this country and in the rest of the world are doing a wonderful job in preserving and conserving some of our heritage and many of us have had great pleasure and delight from visiting them frequently but I do think it would be a pity if we were only to see our wonderful treasures in Museums, and I think we must try to see that people are still inable to keep some of them in country houses which are family houses so that we may see them in the setting for which so many of them were designed. These are pieces designed for a style of living and I feel many of them should still be associated with that. Of course the best example will probably find their way into museums. But there are a large number of other examples which people like me wish to goodness we could have more often if only one day we get a Government that lowers the rate of direct taxation and enables us to buy more of these things, not merely to inherit them from parents who themselves were able to afford them but to be able to gather them together and pass onto our children. As you know at the moment politicians can only afford them if they have already written their memoirs and I have a few years to go! Although I hope the experiences will be forthcoming upon which I can found them—memoirs!
When we talk about housing our heritage, and that is important, we must remember someone else created it for us to conserve, and, just as I am concerned that not all our beautiful things should find their way into museums, so I am concerned that not all patronage and future creation of new works of art should be at the courtesy and patronage of the state. I think it would be far better if we were left with a little more money in our pockets for personal patronage to commission new and beautiful things to add to those which have already been created so we may add our section of heritage for children in the future. [end p3]
Mr. Chairman, you did say we didn't want to delay people a long time and these beautiful things are very much an individual thing, all art is individual, it comes to us through the experience of an individual. You can't talk about it in macro terms, it has to be talked about in micro terms and many of us will appreciate to the full the beauties which are displayed here today and wish that perhaps we could purchase more of them. Personally, whenever I've been here it's been down there and I've always regretted the things that I have not bought and never regretted the odd things that I have been able to buy.
We are conserving another kind of heritage this year, it is the third kind. It is said the history of a nation is found in its art, its architecture, its literature, its laws and its institutions. This is Jubilee year and we're talking as well about conserving our great institutions and as a politician I can only hope we shall do as good a job in handing on the best traditions of our political institutions to future generations as you have done in handing on the talent and pride of previous generations.
I have very great pleasure in formally opening the Fair.