Kettle's Yard is an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

and house in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The director of the art gallery is

Andrew Nairne Andrew Colin Nairne OBE (born 10 February 1960), is director of Kettle's Yard, the University of Cambridge’s modern and contemporary art gallery. Life and career Born in Guildford, Nairne graduated with an art history MA from the University of S ...

. Both the house and gallery reopened in February 2018 after an expansion of the facilities.

History and overview

Kettle's Yard House and Gallery lies on the west side of Castle Street, between

Northampton Street Northampton Street (part of the A1303) is a street in the north of central Cambridge, England.St Peter's Church. It was originally the Cambridge home of

Jim Ede Harold Stanley Ede (7 April 1895 – 15 March 1990), also known as Jim Ede and H. S. Ede, was a British curator, collector of art and friend to artists. He was the creator of Kettle's Yard in Cambridge. Life and career Jim Ede was born in Penar ...

and his wife Helen. Moving to Cambridge in 1956, they converted four small cottages with the help of

Winton Aldridge Rowland De Winton Aldridge (1906–1997) was a British architect, architectural historian and artist. He was born in Kent and named in honour of his great grandmother, Catherine Rebecca de Winton, a member of the Parry de Winton engineering fami ...

into one idiosyncratic house and a place to display Ede's collection of early 20th-century art. Ede maintained an 'open house' each afternoon, giving any visitors, particularly students, a personal tour of his collection. In 1966, Ede gave the house and collection to the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, but continued living there before he and his wife moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in 1973. The house is preserved as the Edes left it, making a very informal space to enjoy the permanent collection and live music. In 1970, the house was extended, adding an exhibition gallery in a contrasting modernist style by

Leslie Martin Sir John Leslie Martin (17 August 1908, in Manchester – 28 July 2000) was an English architect, and a leading advocate of the International Style. Martin's most famous building is the Royal Festival Hall. His work was especially influenced ...

. The house and gallery temporarily closed in June 2015 during a major building project to create a four-floor education wing, improved exhibition galleries, a new entrance area and a café. A series of gentle additions by Jamie Fobert Architects offers greatly improved support services for visitors, including a new courtyard and welcome area and a new shop. The project cost £11,000,000 including £2,320,000 from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and £3,700,000 from

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

. The interior of the house has been left untouched. During the closure, there were displays of the collection at the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

in Cambridge and the

Jerwood Gallery The Hastings Contemporary is a museum of contemporary British art located on The Stade in Hastings, East Sussex and is a not-for-profit organisation. The gallery opened in March 2012 as the Jerwood Gallery and cost £4m to build. The gallery co ...

in Hastings. Kettle's Yard is part of the

University of Cambridge Museums University of Cambridge Museums is a consortium of the eight museums of the University of Cambridge. The consortium works in partnership with the Cambridge University Botanic Garden and other Cambridge University collections. It was awarded Maj ...

consortium.

Permanent collection

The permanent collection is composed of paintings, sculptures and objects collected by Ede. It is largely based on associations and friendships formed when Ede was a curator at

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, and as such it is biased towards works from the British

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

of the first half of the 20th century.

Ian Hamilton Finlay Ian Hamilton Finlay (28 October 1925 – 27 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener. Life Finlay was born in Nassau, Bahamas, to James Hamilton Finlay and his wife, Annie Pettigrew, both of Scots descent. He was educa ...

described Ede's "fusion of art and found objects" on an inscribed pebble as "the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

of the pebble".Exhibition catalogue 'Beauty and Revolution: The Poetry and Art of Ian Hamilton Finlay' Kettles Yard, Cambridge 2014 Notable artists represented in the collection are: *

Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism ...

William Congdon William Grosvenor Congdon (April 15, 1912 – April 15, 1998) was an American painter who became notable as an artist in New York City in the 1940s, but lived most of his life in Europe. Early life/education William Grosvenor Congdon was b ...

Helen Frankenthaler Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 – December 27, 2011) was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades (early 1950s u ...

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (né Gaudier; 4 October 1891 – 5 June 1915) was a French artist and sculptor who developed a rough-hewn, primitive style of direct carving. Biography Henri Gaudier was born in Saint-Jean-de-Braye near Orléans. In 1910, ...

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadin ...

* David Jones *

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscapes, and still-life. He was one of the leading promoters of abstract art in England. Backg ...

David Peace David Peace (born 1967) is an English writer. Best known for his UK-set novels Red Riding Quartet (1999–2002), '' GB84'' (2004), '' The Damned Utd'' (2006), and '' Red or Dead'' (2013), Peace was named one of the Best of Young British Nove ...

Winifred Nicholson ''From Bedroom Window, Bankshead'', date unknown, private collection ''Costa Brava'', 1953, Government Art Collection Rosa Winifred Nicholson (née Roberts; 21 December 1893 – 5 March 1981) was a British painter. She was married to the pa ...

Alfred Wallis Alfred Wallis (18 August 1855 – 29 August 1942) was a British artist and fisherman, known for his port landscapes and shipping scenes painted in a naïve style. Having no artistic training, he began painting at the age of 70, using househo ...

* Christopher Wood

References

External links

Kettle's Yard Gallery website
between Roger Wilson and

Paul Coldwell Paul V Coldwell (born 1952) is an English artist. Biography Born in Marylebone, London, he studied fine art at the West of England College of Art from 1972 to 1975 and then studied printmaking at postgraduate level at the Slade school of art 19 ...

to accompany the exhibitio
'Paul Coldwell: I called while you were out'
2008/9 * {{authority control Art museums and galleries established in 1966 Art museums and galleries in Cambridgeshire Museums in Cambridge Museums of the University of Cambridge Non-School institutions of the University of Cambridge Country houses in Cambridgeshire 1966 establishments in England

History and overview

Permanent collection

See also

References

External links