There is more to life than law — and law firms that want to show that they
have wider interests are increasingly drawn into the world of art. Even so
it is a powerful statement by Walker Morris, the Leeds-based firm, to be
principal sponsor of The Revolution Continues: New Art from China
that opens at the Saatchi Gallery this week. Ian Gilbert, the partner
responsible for the sponsorship deal, says: “I think there’s going to be a
‘wow’ factor. People will be asking, ‘How did a Leeds firm pull that off?’”
The answer is simple. Walker Morris had invested time to build a relationship
with the Saatchi when it was on the South Bank, including taking exhibits to
Yorkshire so as to extend its audience. This put it in pole position to
sponsor the gallery when it moved to Chelsea. “We enjoy punching above our
weight and we’re delighted to sponsor the exhibition for what is a very
reasonable amount,” Gilbert says. “We have a big Chinese practice and The
Revolution Continues gives us an opportunity to extend our profile in
London. On top of that, we see it as part of our corporate social
responsibility complementing some of our other initiatives, such as our art
work with schools.”
Law firms are now active in the art field as collectors, sponsors, patrons and
philanthropists. This ranges from Collyer Bristow, which runs its own highly
sophisticated permanent gallery on the ground floor of its Holborn offices,
through to involvement by firms such as Herbert Smith (Cecil Beaton, Lee
Miller, Vanity Fair Portraits) and Taylor Wessing (Face of Fashion,
World’s Most Photographed) in some highly publicised recent
exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG).
As an exemplar of law-firm-savvy gallery directors, there are few to match
Sandy Nairne, at the NPG, who combines an excellent location with being
highly sponsor-friendly. “Some arts establishments are very inflexible,”
Henry Raine, of Herbert Smith, says. “The NPG goes to great lengths to work
with us when we sponsor an exhibition. For example, it will always provide a
curator to address guests at receptions or parties held in conjunction with
the exhibition and this is something that our clients and friends love.”
The NPG also makes a point of sending in its staff to the sponsor’s office,
which is much valued by Michael Frawley, managing partner at Taylor Wessing,
who says that staff involvement in the sponsorship is one of the key
benefits. The NPG is also happy to co-operate with some of the firm’s other
social and community projects, such as St Mungo’s and University College
London Hospital. “It’s all part of our commitment to giving something back,”
Frawley says.
Raine says the great advantage that visual art sponsorship has over, say dance
or music, is that you can talk at length with guests in the context of the
exhibition. Yet the motives for these sponsorships are not purely pragmatic.
Most firms that have moved into visual arts patronage do so because of a
driving enthusiasm by an individual partner.
The London office of Eversheds, for example, has become more entrepreneurial
in its arts sponsorship since it was taken over by Cornelius Medvei, whose
enthusiasm for art has lead to a strong link with the Hayward Gallery on the
South Bank. “We have an annual budget — it’s quite a reasonable sum — for
the arts that is drawn from both our marketing and social responsibility
allocations,” Medvei says. “In the final analysis, however, I take the
decision about where the London money will be spent and part of what
influences me is whether it tickles my fancy. That said, I also need to be
convinced that it is value for money and that it’s going to be doing good in
the community. One of our commitments is that we should be helping to make
art more accessible and less elitist.”
As Medvei points out, once word gets around that a firm is committed to
sponsorship then the opportunities flood in. So it is no surprise that
Clifford Chance worldwide has a hand in every possible arts activity ranging
from the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, the Museum of Applied Art in
Frankfurt, the Foam Photography Museum in Amsterdam and MoMA in New York
through to individual show sponsorships such as the Future City
exhibition at the Barbican a couple of years ago, the Visual Memoirs project
in Hong Kong and The Armory Show in New York. In fact, its glossy
booklet dedicated to its global arts programme is a work of art in itself.
Sometimes the firm does something quirky such as bring together for an evening
of discussion Nick Hornby, the novelist, and Nick Hornby, the visual artist.
“Our guests said it was the best piece of corporate entertainment they had
been to,” Chris Turner, head of the Clifford Chance arts committee, says.
“The odd thing was it did not cost very much at all.” That’s art for you —
its cost and its value seldom equate.
