Tom Pilsworth of Oxford University's Saïd Business School explores the relationship between business and the Arts as revealed in a new exhibition

BUSINESS and the Arts may often seem like two very different worlds, but our new exhibition at Saïd Business School, brings both forms of human endeavour into close harmony.

Its aim is to spark discussions on their relationship, and to inspire both our students and the wider Oxford community.

The exhibition opens on Wednesday and it features some of the most exciting movements in British art from the 20th century to the present day.

Curated by Lizzie Collins, Director of Zuleika Gallery, the works have been selected to fit the building's modern lines, which were drawn by leading architects Jeremy Dixon and Edward Jones.

To launch this unique event, we are delighted to welcome Stephen Alvarez to the School.

Mr Alvarez is a National Geographic photographer, film maker and explorer who produces global stories about exploration, adventure, culture and archaeology.

Moved by the power of humanity’s earliest artworks, by which our first ancestors recorded their hopes and fears, Mr Alvarez founded the Ancient Art Archive in 2016.

The Archive is a non-profit foundation dedicated to using photography and the newest technologies to preserve and share humanity’s oldest artworks.

He will discuss the archive and tackle some of the questions raised by our ancestors work: why and when did we start making art?

What can ancient art tell us about today’s world of image based social media, and how can digital technology help us explore share and preserve our first stories?

A short walk from our entrance foyer, visitors will find celebrated abstract compositions from the St. Ives School of artists, including Fun Day Kites and Balloons, St. Ives, by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.

The oil painting’s primary colours, geometric shapes and sense of motion are a perfect fit for Oxford Saïd’s bustling corridors.

Standing in contrast to Barns-Graham’s bold palette, Landscape Zennor by Bryant Wynter evokes the rocks and moors of Cornwall in shades of dusk.

The exhibition also features seminal works by Sandra Blow and Alexander MacKenzie.

In an adjoining corridor that runs parallel to the school’s pristine gardens (which lay home to the 900 year old remnants of Rewley Abbey), the West Wing’s walls are enriched with the prints of one of the world’s most notable pop artists – Patrick Caulfield.

Caulfield was a painter, printmaker and teacher who studied at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art.

During his lifetime he exhibited at the Tate and Serpentine, and he became associated with the later generation of pop-artists. His work depicts familiar objects in a heavily stylised manner.

The clean lines of the lithographs and the simplistic nature of Caulfield’s work compliment the School’s white walls and polished marble surfaces, and an illustration of a clock coloured in a striking yellow is particularly eye catching.

Titled Criant aux murs: Mon Deiu!, its frozen hands might provide some comfort to our MBA students, who often remark how fast time flies while they are immersed in their studies.

At the end of the corridor, Howard Hodgkin’s Moroccan Door demonstrates the late much loved Turner Prize winner’s distinctive sweeping style and saturated colours.

In the airy spaces of the Thatcher Building, the paintings and prints give way to works of a larger scale, including an abstract piece by Peter Davies, which makes a bold statement on the stairway.

The exhibition then extends to Oxford Saïd’s clubroom, allowing visitors a view of the School’s East Wing that sits before the city’s iconic spires.

Curator Lizzie Collins described the exhibition as ‘perfectly reflecting the ethos and values of Saïd Business School and acting as the visual equivalent of creative thinking, excellence and innovation.’

We invite the city’s art lovers to visit and judge for themselves where the line between business and art can be drawn.

sbs.ox.ac.uk/school/events