In Perspective #1: Art lending, new opportunities for old ideals

In the beautiful but overcrowded office of the director of Kunstuitleen SBK Amsterdam, on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, paintings, etchings, gouaches, photographs were everywhere against the wall. And ceramics too. At the meeting table, the entire board of the Federatie Kunst Uitleen (FKU) with whom I had come to meet as intended external chairman. I walked, enthusiastically shaking everyone's hand, around the table. 'Crack,' said the ceramic artwork under my feet. A sad incident that turned out not to get in the way of the chairmanship after all.

At that time (1985), the art lending business was already mature, professional. It was artist Pieter Kooistra who, shortly after the war, came up with the idea of lending out his art for a small fee. On his cargo bike, he criss-crossed Amsterdam to deliver or collect his works from customers. It turned out to be a successful formula. The SBK foundation emerged from this and was followed in many cities. In the days of Openbaar Kunstbezit ¹lending was appreciated, not only as a good supplementary source of income for artists, but also as a means of bringing many 'ordinary' people into contact with art. The system not only provides for borrowing, but also lets customers save for a credit from which they can purchase a work of their choice. So if you get attached to a work, you can save up for it, but you can also use your savings to buy another work. I still enjoy looking at the work - now on my daughter's wall - that we bought with our credit at the Artotheek in The Hague.

Commercialists and ideologues

For several years, the SBK model faced competition from the then art libraries. These lent work from municipal collections under the BKR Visual Artists Scheme. It was municipal property; it could therefore only be borrowed, not bought. For a while, there was a rather dogmatic animosity between the two organisations: the Federation of Art Lending (the "commercialists") and the Association Consultation of Art Libraries, (the "ideologues"). After several years, I had the opportunity to merge both umbrella organisations into a new Federation of Art Lending. After the removal of the visual arts regulation, of course, the art libraries also got on a new track and the differences gradually fell away. Much of the BKR work ended up in the 60 or so local loans. ² The name art lending and art library are now more or less synonymous.

For a while, art lending had the wind firmly in its sails from politics and policy. Minister d'Ancona, for example, visited the FKU congress (1989), she was enthusiastic about the phenomenon, especially because of the opportunities for cultural participation, and she decided to fund a national agency that would promote and cooperate³. Art lending flourished, not only with individual borrowers, but also with companies, hospitals and schools as customers. It showed itself in different guises: the original model of the SBK, as municipal visual arts centre CBK and sometimes as part of a museum. Enthusiasts can still borrow artworks from the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht and Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen NH. A nice 'outreaching' and social function for a museum.

Policy tool or shop

What caused its popularity to fall again so quickly? The political interest in art lending as a policy instrument froze in the era of retreating governments, branch discussions, privatisation, 'fending for yourself'. With the exception of a few CBKs and named museums, most art loans were left to their own earning power. If there were still new impulses for visual art policy, it was usually not to popularize visual art or boost artists' incomes through art lending. Many municipalities withdrew. I have a photo in which I am allowed to present Hans van Mierlo, D66 coryphist, with the first Kunstuitleen voucher, but national politics also quickly lost focus thus

The fact is that, in practice, art lending can exist unsubsidised. Several small, private loans have been set up and some artists also have their own lending system. With good business management, professional customer acquisition, and as businesslike an attitude as possible towards the visual artists, you get a long way, especially in an urban environment. Combining this with a well-run in-house gallery function can also help. And just like the better bookseller or publisher, the better art library will seek - albeit not without effort, art and flight - the perfect balance between healthy operations, the highest possible quality and customer focus. However, it requires a lot: buying and borrowing artworks, managing and keeping the collection attractive, managing savings, customers demanding time for information and help, arranging transports, creating exhibitions, providing promotion.

Finding out and elevating

That the art loan seems to have fallen away as a policy instrument is unfortunate in my view. I would like to see it firmly back. I have at least four reasons for that.

The first is perhaps mainly from policy philosophy, but still. Cultural policy often has too strict a distinction between the world of subsidised and commercial culture. After all, there is always the fear that subsidy disappears as profit for an entrepreneur. I think it is worth continuing to explore how to promote the channels through which culture of the highest possible quality reaches as many people as possible. In doing so, everyone working in the chain should be rewarded for their work within reasonable margins; neither over- nor undervalued. The fact that something is commercial, or at least not structurally subsidised, does not have to exclude government contributions in advance and by definition, especially if they very directly benefit the makers and the culture consumer.

A second motive for promoting art lending is in the (classical) ideals of art policy: from the "elevating the people" in the social democratic tradition to "inclusiveness" as the most current policy keyword. Education, learning to interact with visual art, also plays a role here. Learning to look. Learning what time does when you interact with a work of art for longer. Gaining an understanding of technique, motif, perspective, thoughts of the artist. The process of looking, judging, choosing is also super instructive: you learn a lot about art and at least as much about yourself.

Beauty and income

And third motive is simply: beautifying our surroundings. So many hospital rooms, waiting rooms, school rooms, government buildings show neither crack nor taste. To put it more positively, how much nicer it is to wait somewhere where the eye is caressed or at least touched. The Dutch Railways have long led the way here in their trains, originally together with Openbaar Kunstbezit and later with the Federatie Kunstuitleen.

And I see so many beautiful large textile works, media art presentations or sculptures eagerly waiting to grace the hall of a public service, so to speak. It is precisely a loan system that can make it easier to dare to hang or put something up: you can always change if the art is disappointing or unexpectedly bored.

At fourth there is the contribution to incomes of visual artists. The total turnover could grow substantially, but the actual fee per artist should also be able to increase. Just calculate what it costs the artist in time and materials before the work was created and in time and transport before it reaches the art loan then ''fair pay' by no means in sight. There are also copyright issues to be addressed.

Promoting art lending could be a good response to the desire in the Lower House to make purchasing art more attractive (in June 2021, a motion⁴ by Paternotte (D66) and El Yassini (VVD) passed in the House). In her "Outline Letter" of May 2022⁵, state secretary Uslu says he wants to strengthen the position of creators. This is another handle to give visual artists a helping hand.

The cargo bike is back

Promote quality and diversity of supply. If consumers really want to have something to choose - and choosing art is an extremely personal process - they need a large, diverse and also regularly refreshed offering. Existing art libraries feel a great need to renew and expand their stock. For artists, it is more attractive if they can make purchases for the benefit of this stock rather than borrowing the work.

All in all, I see good opportunities to substantially increase the significance of visual art in public buildings and offices, consumers' love of visual art and the market for visual art. Sometimes it is not at all crazy to pull out old policies and pimp them up again. The cargo bicycle is also back from the past, although Pieter Kooistra's cart will have disappeared by now.

Notes: