Institute of Contemporary Arts | draft statement of "Policy and Aims" prior to the foundation of the ICA, [1946]

Institute of Contemporary Arts

Policy and Aims

two drafts :

i) manuscript draft in the hand of Leonie Cohn, with extensive revisions, 2 pages, 4to, text on rectos only, one page written on the verso of a printed letter inviting support for the nascent ICA, [1946-47]

ii) typescript, carbon copy, 2 pages, 4to

"...It is proposed to establish in London an Institute of Contemporary Arts [...] Its function would not be retrospective, nor propagandist, nor even educational in the accepted sense of the word. Rather, it would be co-operative, experimental and creative..."

A KEY STATEMENT IN POST-WAR BRITISH ART. The idea of the ICA began to take shape in 1946 with meetings between a small group including Herbert Read, Roland Penrose, and J.M. Richards. This "statement of policy" outlining the aspirations of the ground-breaking institute went through multiple drafts, several of which are now in the Tate Archive, before publication in 1948. This draft is from the papers of Leonie Cohn, who worked closely with Herbert Read and was herself on the ICA Management Committee from 1954 to 1968.