Forced Journeys On Tour

Artists in Exile in Britain c. 1933-45

This exhibition was co-curated by Rachel Dickson and Sarah Macdougall, who have also collaborated on Ben Uri's extensive and groundbreaking series of exhibitions focusing on the 'Whitechapel Boys', most recently Whitechapel at War: Isaac Rosenberg and his Circle (2008).

Forced Journeys: Artists in Exile, 1933-45 comprised almost 90 works by some 35 artists of mostly (though not exclusively) German and Austrian origin, and examined the decisive impact of internment on the life and work of a significant group of refugee artists in exile in Britain during the Second World War. Although internment in the UK was initially limited to enemy aliens considered to be of high risk, in May 1940, it was extended to all enemy aliens (primarily Germans and Austrians, though, by June, also Italians) including migrants who for religious, political or artistic reasons were compelled to flee to Britain from Nazi oppression. This included over 300 artists.

Artists featured included Jussuf Abbo, Jack Bilbo, Martin Bloch, Jacob Bornfriend, Hugo Dachinger, Hans Feibusch, Eva Frankfurther, Erich Kahn, Margaret Marks, Ludwig and Else Meidner, Walter Nessler, and Fred Uhlman. The exhibition explored a multitude of themes including: the art of internment; post-internment art; contributions to British art schools; representations of the other by the other; and the shaping of the art market and development of graphic design in mid-century Britain.

Shown at Sayle Gallery, Douglas, Isle of Man, 9 April-23 May 2010, to mark the 70th Anniversary of the opening in May 1940 of the Isle of Man internment camps, it then toured to Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, 17 June-25 July 2010.

Video of the Co-curators Rachel Dickson and Sarah Macdougall speaking at the Manx Museum, IOM, about the ‘Forced Journeys’ exhibition.