*UCL*Manuscripts, Archives and Art Collections Retrieval System

College Art Collections at UCL

Historical Context

The College Art Collections are administered by the History of Art Department. The collection was founded in 1847 with a gift of the sculpture models of the neo-classical artist John Flaxman on display in the Flaxman Gallery. Extensive nineteenth century gifts of prints and drawings followed and added a wide range of works on paper to the collection. Paintings and drawings by 20th century artists were also presented to the University through the Slade Prize System from the 1890s.

Nature of Holdings

The collections comprise around 600 paintings, 7,000 prints and drawings and 150 works of sculpture ranging from 15th century engravings to the prize-winning works of contemporary Slade students. The Strang Print Room houses Old Master prints and drawings, including Dürer, Schongauer, Cranach, Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck. There are large holdings of English prints and watercolours are also represented including works by Rowlandson, De Wint and Turner.

The collection also contains prize student works from the Slade School of Art dating from the 1890s to the present day: these constitute an unique resource for studying the development of English Art Education and demonstrate the early talent of artists such as Spencer, John, Wyndham Lewis, Wadsworth, Carrington, Rego and Uglow. Later works by other Slade artists such as Bomberg, Orpen and Sickert are also represented in the collection, as are modern prints from the Slade Printmaking Department.

Relationship to Other Holdings

The works of art in the College Art Collection are complemented by archive material relating to the history of the Slade School of Art in the Slade Archive.

Cataloguing structure

The holdings are grouped under five collections:Individual works of art are then catalogued at object level. See the Advisory Page for more information about the database structure.

What's on MAARS

Records for 3968 objects, about 50% of the collection, are entered/currently available for consultation on the database.

Access Information

The College Art Collections run a public exhibition programme and an education service for schools listed in UCL events,and the Strang Print Room operates as a study centre for prints and drawings.

Personal Visits

The exhibitions are open Wednesday to Friday 1-5pm in term time, and the reserve collection of paintings and works on paper is available for viewing by appointment subject to certain Conditions of Access and Use. Please use the Researcher Application Form to make an appointment.

The College Art Collections are based in the Strang Print Room, situated on the ground floor of the Wilkins Building in the main part of the College.Entrance is from the Front Quad via the main door in the South Cloisters.

Enquiry Information

Emma Chambers (Curator) e.chambers@ucl.ac.uk
Tarnya Cooper (Assistant Curator, Education) tarnya.cooper@ucl.ac.uk
Susan Owens (Assistant Curator, Documentation) s.owens@ucl.ac.uk
Roxane Nash (Print Room Assistant) r.nash@ucl.ac.uk

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Contact ucylw3a@ucl.ac.uk
Last modified 10 February 1999