Secrets of the Art World Unveiled

Kate is a powerhouse in the art world. An art historian, collector, writer, broadcaster, curator and a regular judge on the enduringly popular Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, and the spin-off Landscape Artist of the Year.

She has a collection of 200 art works at home, and told the audience of pupils, parents, alumnae and staff: “Art should be for everybody. I went to a state comprehensive school and come from a modest background. When I arrived in the artworld I realised it was still tied up with elitism and I hate that sometimes the structures around art make it feel daunting.

“We all made art as children, and we all had opinions on it. Then somehow, we grew up and risked becoming ‘outsiders’ to something we all have an innate ability to appreciate and love.”

Kate was invited to talk by LEH Head of History of Art Aleid Farnum-Ford who first got to know her when they worked together at Art History Abroad, a company specialising in onsite study in Italy.  All proceeds from the talk went to LEH's Bursary Fund.

Aleid says: “Kate’s energy and enthusiasm around art is just so infectious and I was very motivated to bring her warm charisma and huge wealth of knowledge and expertise to the school for this special event. Kate has such an engaging mode of address – both articulate and accessible – and I was thrilled to witness how effortlessly and powerfully she spoke to all those in the audience. There really was a bristle of inspiration in the room and the excellent (and numerous!) questions at the end of the talk revealed just how deeply the audience had engaged with all parts of the discussion.”

Here is a small selection of the feedback we recieved after the lecture, all these comments are from L6 pupils:-

Megan: “I found Kate Bryan’s talk totally fascinating and inspiring. She has such a wealth of experience and was such an incredible speaker. She was very honest and open about her experiences and clearly demonstrated that career paths are not linear."

Behnoush: "The talk was so enlightening and gave me a real insight into the art world, and the importance of inclusivity and different experiences in art. Kate Bryan was an extremely inspirational figure to learn from as an art student."

Eva: "I loved the talk - Kate was so engaging, inspiring and enjoyable to listen to; I found her insights into the art world intriguing, and sometimes even shocking."

Kate’s lightbulb art moment as a child was discovering Van Gough on a school trip to the Tate Gallery. “This was my only encounter with real art until my parents took me to see the Monet Exhibition at The Royal Academy for her 17th birthday. This changed my life as I realised I could study art history, something I had never heard of.”

Having read History of Art at Warwick University, Kate landed a job at the British Museum “filing and making coffee for the Director” before working on a Michelangelo Drawings exhibition.  “It was there that I discovered it was quite unusual for someone from a non-privileged background to get into the art world. Ever since then I have been very mindful to try to leave the door open for other people from all walks of life to be able to come into this space, which has for too long been elitist and a bit of an echo chamber.”

She went to Hong Kong University in 2010 for her MPhil where her thesis was based on images of the Penitent Magdalene in Italian Renaissance art. Kate was then appointed gallery director of The Cat Street Gallery which ignited her passion for contemporary art. “Working with living artists was a revelation.”

Since 2016, Kate has curated the global art collection for Soho House, comprising over 8,000 artworks on permanent display across eight countries. It is in this role that she has truly found her voice and been able to use it to powerful effect.

During her talk, Kate shared some stark statistics:-

• There are only 20 works by women artists in London’s National Gallery. 
• Across Europe and North America artwork by women accounts for between 3-5% of permanent collections in museums.
• Over 60% of art school graduates in London are female, but women artists account for less than 30% of any gallery’s represented artist list.
• There has never been a solo show for a woman artist at London’s Royal (although one is planned for later this year).
• Women working across arts professions make almost $20,000 less per year than men.
• Only 13.7% of living artists represented by galleries in Europe and North America are women.
• There are no women in the top 0.03% of the auction market, where 41% of the profit is concentrated.  Overall, 96.1% of artworks sold at auction are by male artists.

In April 2016, she curated the Vault 100 art collection for The Ned London (part of the Soho House group). The collection highlighted gender disparity in finance and the art world; Bryan acquired the work of 93 women and seven men, reversing the FTSE 100 CEO gender ratio.

In October 2018, Kate put together Not 30% at The Other Art Fair London, presenting the work of 30 female artists in a separate space as part protest, part exhibition. She has become a passionate ambassador for the power of art to inform, engage and include. “There is plenty of space for everyone. The art world has to reflect the diversity of the real world.”

During her time in the art world, Kate has seen that the tide is beginning to turn: “We need a multiplicity of voices. It is happening now. Every day. And there is no point trying to resist it.”

If you missed the lecture but would like to find out more about Kate’s engaging and accessible approach to art, she has written a couple of books: The Art of Love (which tells the romantic and explosive stories behind art’s greatest couples) and Bright Stars (about great artists who died too young).

If you are logged into your Holles Connect account, you will be able to see some more imgages of Kate's lecture in the photo gallery below.