Wishing to celebrate Coronation Year with a display of current British painting, the Contemporary Art Society invited contributions from about a hundred artists.
The number of contributions we invited was decided by the space at our disposal.
Since the prime object of the Society is to enrich the museums of this country and the Commonwealth, we stipulated that the pictures should not be less than a certain size.
To give some unity to the exhibition we sought for works representing figures in their setting. This must on no account be attributed to any prejudice against abstract painting: the character of the purchases made during the years by the Society is proof enough that no such prejudice exists.
Raymond Mortimer
