As a Liberal Member of Parliament for Hull, Ferens spoke out in the House of Commons about slavery in the British colonies alongside drawing Parliament’s attention to the trafficking of Chinese girls and women in Britain. This is something I hope to explore further in the joint project, drawing connections between Ferens’ awareness of colonial exploitation, how he spoke about slavery and how this connected to his charitable contributions and the artwork he purchased.
As a committed Methodist, Ferens gave away approximately ninety percent of his income. A large part of this income went to expanding Hull’s Art Gallery, and then founding Ferens Art Gallery. Ferens gifted £35,000 for the creation of Ferens Gallery, as well as forming a Ferens Endowment Fund, to which he regularly contributed. Ferens was a highly active collector, involved in personally purchasing or making final decisions regarding the paintings bought for the Gallery’s Permanent Collections. Ferens, throughout his lifetime, asserted that artwork could have a positive moral and spiritual impact on communities who viewed and engaged with it. Ferens perceived the power of artwork as something that could inspire personal growth especially regarding education and religiosity.
Ferens’ role as a discerning collector, is swiftly becoming a pivotal element of the joint project, with the research beginning to reveal more complex reasons for why he purchased artwork and, in some cases, actively blocked the Gallery’s Committee from purchasing others. I hope that through thorough research over the next year, we will uncover fully how his personal and political beliefs embedded themselves into his role as a collector.
This opens a multitude of intriguing avenues of inquiry. It is becoming evident that he had differing motivations for purchasing certain artworks. Did his decisions to collect certain paintings based on personal or political beliefs, come into conflict with artworks that were popular to the wider public? Do cross-purposes appear?
Ferens was key to Sub Committee meetings, where he advised the theme of collections and approved purchases. However, he was not the sole individual involved. I hope to uncover if his opinions clashed with the Gallery’s curator or the Sub Committee. Beyond those officially employed by the Ferens Art Gallery, Esther Field, who was married to Thomas Ferens shared his commitments to encouraging greater access to the arts in hopes of moral benefit. In the coming year I hope to uncover her role in Ferens charitable and cultural contributions.