Struggling for financial support
Art Critic P.G. Konody, Honorary Secretary to the Committee and principal animator of the Pavilion approached the Exhibitions Branch of the Overseas Trade in the summer of 1921, with the request that it should take over the Pavilion. On behalf of the Committee he asked for £1,000 for its purchase. His proposal was rejected citing Italy's poor economic situation and the unfavourable exchange rate so he wrote to the Biennale authorities to ask "whether there is any possibility of the Municipality of Venice buying back the Pavilion at a reduced price.”* The financial position of the Committee was such that it also offered the Pavilion to Spain at this time.
*Letter of 17 July 1921 (Fondo Storicio ASAC, Serie Scatole Nere Padiglioni: Gran Bretagna, busta n.9, "XIII Biennale 1922").
(Taken with kind permission from Britain at the Venice Biennale 1895-1995 Edited by Sophie Bowness and Clive Phillpot).
