Émigré Art Networks in Britain

25 NOVEMBER 2026 AT 10.00–17.30

A free one-day symposium exploring the influence of émigrés on British art and culture at Tate Britain

This symposium will draw inspiration from our current archive display Together on this Island: Émigré Art Networks in Britain to present the work of art world figures who migrated to Britain from continental Europe in the mid-20th century, many fleeing Nazism, and to consider their contribution to British culture.

Drawing on archival research and case studies of individual figures, the programme will explore how émigrés shaped British artistic, intellectual, and public life, while addressing questions of displacement, identity, and belonging. It will also examine the role of institutions and support organisations in fostering cultural exchange and professional networks.

We would like to draw attention to the presentation being given by Rebecca Harris, a recipient of JHSE funding, whose paper is titled, 'Writing the Creative Self: on Émigré Women Artists, Networks and Friendship’.

Abstract: In correspondence, a voice is given to writing, articulating on several levels with autobiographical moments written into the layers of the text. To study artists in the J.P Hodin archive involves witnessing individuals reconstructing lives resulting from displacement, experiences coming forth in the artist’s writing. Ideas - philosophical elements even- are immersed with a criticism and celebration of art and culture. Works of poetry, diary entries, also letters and seemingly ephemeral notetaking, can shift our perspective when encountering artworks, as well as disrupt the assumptions and conventions of reading around art.

In the archive we encounter the territory of non-belonging, the cultivation of distinct voices and “a plurality of vision outside the habitus.”[1] J.P. Hodin’s Way of Life: Life and Work of the Painter Hilde Goldschmidt, 1976 contains the artist’s anecdotes- diary entries bear witness to a belief that “One’s inner world is the true homeland.”[2] As if portraying Else Meidner herself, Hodin describes her art containing “inner reserve” and the artist of another time. Yet, her poetic prose on Beethoven and Mozart recall contemporary writings of Anton Ehrenzweig[3], both artists representative of the shifting spaces that existed in the visual arts in the second half of the 20th century.

This paper begins with a focus on Hilde Goldschmidt and Else Meidner to consider a broader analysis of materials, aesthetics, and concepts in the art of émigré artists, reframing creative practice as a dialogue with history, literature, and broader diasporic experience through artist writing.

For a full programme and to book your free ticket, see the Tate's website here.