There are too few masterpieces in Masterpieces: Art and East Anglia

The mood is celebratory in East Anglia: the University (UEA) marks 50 years since it opened its doors in Norwich, and the Sainsbury Centre, its visual arts flagship, is back in business after refurbishment by Foster & Partners. The first public building designed by Norman Foster, it opened originally in 1978, a huge glass and steel hangar to house the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection, given to the University five years earlier. This impressive collection is wide-ranging, including a substantial group of early Francis Bacon paintings, an important collection of Hans Coper ceramics, and excellent things by Moore, Giacometti, Picasso and Epstein, as well as quantities of other artefacts, ancient and modern. There is also a temporary exhibition space, and the reopening show is called Masterpieces: Art and East Anglia (until 24 February), which takes upon itself the task of telling the story of art in the area through a selection of top-quality works. It’s a good idea, but is it actually possible to implement?

The current solution is a large show of some 250 items, ranging from silver salts to documentary photographs, and from paintings to porcelain and wooden chairs. The East Anglian connection can be tenuous: these objects have been inspired by, produced or collected in the region — which is a pretty wide remit. If the exhibition lacks all focus, this can only be because of these indulgent selection criteria and its hubristic title; it certainly can’t be faulted on enthusiasm or the serene reflected glory of (some) great works of art. But there is far too much on display, in an installation that lacks coherence and goes completely to pieces in the modern period. Although there are major things here, there are too many minor ones too. The exhibition resembles nothing so much as the jumble of taste in a large country house, where the family once had wealth, position and good connections, but has rather fallen on hard times.