History of Art

History of Art

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UCL Art Museum

UCL Art Museum - private view of Vincula exhibition, May 2012 ©Matt Clayton

Over 10,000 works of art make up the collections of UCL Art Museum, from the 1500s to the present day. 

Works separated by centuries are linked by a desire to experiment with new materials, theories, and reproduction techniques in order to produce new meanings, share ideas and inspire.

The experimental spirit is present in early printmaking techniques as used by Rembrandt, studio model books employed in Renaissance artists’ workshops, Neo-classical plaster modelling and pointing machines, the study of the human figure in the life room, Japanese colour woodblocks, screenprinting  popular in the 1960s, early computer art of the 1970s and contemporary digital media.

International in scope, many art works relate to the history of teaching art at the UCL Slade School of Fine Art. Outstanding examples often show stages in the creative process, from annotated landscape prints by Turner to  torn up sketches by Augustus John saved by his peers, as well as drawings by artists such as John Flaxman, Henry Tonks and William Coldstream used for instruction.

Interdisciplinary teaching and research are core to the museum’s mission, with the research process opened up through one-hour Pop-Up displays curated by UCL academics.

The museum is located in a traditional Print Room at the heart of UCL, its collections  publicly accessible through temporary exhibitions and displays across the university campus. The Flaxman Gallery, the pinnacle of a vast collection of art works by Flaxman, showcases the artist’s plaster models in a unique architectural setting.

Student Research

As a teaching and research collection, we welcome approaches from undergraduate and post graduate students to use the objects as the basis for essays, dissertations and project work. To learn more about the collections, our events, visiting the gallery space and how to plan a research visit, please refer to the UCL Museums & Public Engagement website.