In one of his most memorable phrases, delivered in a speech very near the end of his life, Keynes said that economists are "the trustees not of civilization, but of the possibility of civilization."(1)
In the civilization that Keynes the economist worked so unremittingly to make possible it is clear that he awarded art a high, perhaps indeed, the very highest place. Since he was a man of action as well as a man of thought, it was characteristic of him that he should not only enjoy the passive contemplation of art, ballet, and the theater, but also engage himself as an art and book collector and as the promoter, innovator, and organizer of an astonishing array of arts enterprises. And since he was not only briUiantly articulate but also notably practical and energetic, it should not surprise us that by these efforts he did actually put his mark on the development of British culture.
This paper briefly reviews Keynes' many and varied activities as a lifelong entrepreneur for the arts and examines those of his writings that deal directly or by implication with the economies of art and culture.
In March, 1918 Keynes was travelling to war-time Paris on Treasury business. Degas' private art collection was coming up for auction. At the suggestion of the painter Duncan Grant, one of his Bloomsbury friends, Keynes persuaded the ChaneeUor of the Exchequer to let him have Β£20,000 to buy pictures for the National Gallery. Charles Holmes, the Gallery's Director, accompanied him to carry out the actual bidding. In Paris Holmes succeeded in buying thirteen paintings and eleven drawings by 19th eentury French masters, but Keynes could not persuade him to bid on any of the Cezannes. Paris was then under siege by Big Bertha, which may have depressed prices, and according to David Garnett's reeolleetions, the adventurers returned home with Β£5,000 unspent. On his own account, Keynes purchased a small Cezanne still life as well as works by Delaeroix, Ingres, and Degas. Both Harrod and Duncan Grant date Keynes' career as a serious collector from this expedition.(2)
In later years Keynes functioned as a buyer for the Contemporary Arts Society, and in 1941 he was invited to join the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery.(3) As innovator and promoter, Keynes in 1925 organized The London Artists Association, to help alleviate financial pressures on accomplished but not yet self-supporting artists. The Association continued to function under his direction until hard times put an end to it in 1933.( 4) (Economists, it seems, had not yet learned how to do their job as the trustees of "possibility.") Keynes and his Bloomsbury friends, inspired by the frequent London seasons of Diaghilev's Ballets Russe, became ardent balletomanes.( 5) In 1925 Keynes married the renowned Diaghilev ballerina, Lydia Lopokova. No doubt the marriage contributed to turning his immense practical energies toward theatrical and dance enterprises. he sought, as did many others, to encourage the development of a native English ballet. In 1930 the Camargo Society was formed for the purpose of presenting regular programs of ballet in London to fill the void left by Diaghilev's death in 1929. In 1931 the Society experienced a financial crisis and called upon Keynes to become its Treasurer. He threw himself into the effort and kept the society solvent until it ceased active production in 1934. At that time the Society's assets were turned over to the young Vic-WeUs company which was eventually to become the Royal BaUet.(6)
In the same year, Keynes launched a scheme to provide his hometown, the city of Cambridge, with an Arts Theatre, after its only commercial stage had been converted to a cinema. He negotiated a complex plan involv' ing King's College (of which he was Bursar) and personally provided the bulk of the capital. The theatre opened in 1936 with a performance by the Vie-Wells Ballet. In 1938 Keynes donated his shares to a charitable trust, on whose board the town and University were equally represented, to operate the theatre for the public benefit. Until the end of his life he continued to take an active interest in its management. (7) His final, and most important effort on behalf of the arts occurred during World War II. In February, 1942 he .