at Perry Green:

Preservation of a genius loci

%X.-‘HEN LEVRANT

In the depths of Hertfordshire there is a museum, at the village of Perry Green. It is not
known as a museum. It is not well known at all outside a select number of people. Those
who know of it would not recognize it if described as a museum, but museum it is.
Museums, are they not places of ancient relics? Dry and dusty places? Popul.arisc
dogma has us to believe that describing something as “only fit for a museum’ is a
derogatory term, an opinion reinforced by the Oxford UE’ctt’onary. Of course there have
been many attempts at dispelling this image, and now we have museums which are so
different to the previously understood definitions that a new word should be coined for
them. The trend in museum design seems to be towards ever-larger and more spectacular
exhibits. The ingenuity and expense rises in direct proportion to the reduction in
a~ention span of the visitor, as museums desperately try to become players in the game
of ‘leisure market’, and attempt to prove that knowledge can be subliminal1y transferred
to the visitor through the use of dynamic interactive displays (puppets, lever-pulling,
button-pressing, etc.}. Museums today seem to relish publicity and notoriety.
Controversy will bring in the visitors, and visitor numbers seem to be the only measure
of success. Standards of quality are now judged by quantity. And what of our museum in
Perry Green? It has, at present, 2500 visitors a year. Yes, a year. Many museums in these
days might reckon that as a weekly or a daily quota. Is it therefore a failure as a museum?
Are the exhibits not worthy of attention ? Is the material not worthy of study?
The ‘museum’ at Perry Green is actually the Henry Moore Foundation. It contains the
most important collection of Henry Moore’s works and archives in the world. It is not a
Public place, it is privately administered by trustees and as a registered charity must
admit members of the public who write for an appointment to visit. Hence the small
number of visitors. lt is not recognized as a museum, because its primary function and
terms of reference do not include the word ‘museum’, and its founder, Henry Moore,
would probably not have thought of it as a museum. So what does the visitor see? At
present the visitor will arrive at the administration building, a former private house called
Danetree, and will then wander off down the garden and grounds to see the places where
Moore created his works. This is where the excitement starts. For those who will have
made the effort to come to this remote place will not be casual visitors intent on adding
another sticker to their car windscreen, or another souvenir tea towel to the collection in
their kitchen drawer; these people are more in the vein of pilgrims. They are enthusiasts
of Moore, or of late 20th century art. They are already no doubt awed by the
fundamental infmence on the direction of art and sculpture which Moore wrought upon
the world. They are already aware that they are visiting the hallowed ground of one of
the greatest human beings in art history. So they need no flashing lights, no sirens, no

0260-4779/92/03 0275-09 @ 1992 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd