VISIT TO THE COURTAULD INSTITUTE OF ART
Thursday evening, 5 February 2009
We first had time to visit the Gallery, coming face-to-face with so many paintings by well-known artists in this relatively small and easily accessible gallery was just the start of our visit. In fact. the Gallery's permanent collection is one of the most important in Britain, and famous for its impressionist and post-impressionist paintings, reaching from early Renaissance to modernist works of the 20th century.
We were then taken into the Courtauld vaults - to the Witt and Conway Libraries - to be greeted by Debbie Swallow, the Director of the Institute, and Barbara Thompson, the Witt and Conway Librarian - and several glasses of champagne! The Witt Library houses a collection of reproductions after paintings, drawings, and prints of western art, from the thirteenth century to the present day - it contains around two million reproductions after works by 70,000 artists! The Conway Library which has been with the Courtauld Institute since 1932, has been continuously developed, and now contains over one million images - photographs and cuttings of architecture, sculpture, ivories, seals, metalwork, manuscript illumination, stained glass, wall paintings, panel paintings and textiles. All major artists are represented in depth and the coverage of lesser-known artists is unparalleled elsewhere.
Barbara Thompson showed us part of the Danish collection - the highlight, of course, being Hammershoei! We did feel, however, that the Scandinavian collection might benefit from some expansion, and the Anglo-Danish Society is now looking at how we might cooperate with Courtaulds to achieve this...
Barbara enthralled us with stories of Mr Witt and Lord Conway, who first met, by chance in italy, in the early 1900s, when they discovered they were both collecting photographs. She showed us around the libraries, rooms full of floor to ceiling sliding shelves, where everything is very clearly marked, and open to the general public for the modest fee of GBP10 per year.
Jilly Frisch
Video from the Courtauld on youtube
Ten videos, including introductions to their Renoir and Cezanne collections.
tinyurl.com/o9ebnf
Wikipedia entry on the Courtauld
Internet encyclopedia entry on the Courtauld, with many associated links.
tinyurl.com/qpguxv
Courtauld prints
This service allows you to order prints, which are available in a range of sizes and are supplied framed or unframed.
tinyurl.com/of7hdk
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Courtauld Institue of art entry.
tinyurl.com/obh3re
