The Women's Art Collection (before 2022, the New Hall Art Collection) is a permanent collection of modern and contemporary art by women artists, at

Murray Edwards College, Cambridge Murray Edwards College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1954 as New Hall and renamed in 2008. The name honours a gift of £30 million by alumna Ros Edwards and her husband Steve, and the firs ...

(previously New Hall), England. It includes over 600 works by artists of international renown and is now considered to be one of the largest and most significant collections of contemporary art by women in the world. Paintings, prints, and sculpture are displayed throughout Murray Edwards College 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 ...

. The College has no designated gallery and the works are displayed throughout its buildings and grounds. The modernist College buildings were completed in 1965 by Chamberlain, Powell and Bon and are Grade II* listed. Many of the works are on display to visitors and a self-guided tour is available from the Porters' Lodge. The aim of the Women’s Art Collection is "to champion artists who identify as women, to give them visibility and a voice, and promote their work within the ethos of an academic college for women dedicated to gender equality."

History

The Collection has come about as the result of many gifts and loans from artists and donors. The Collection started in 1986 with the purchase of Mary Kelly's ''Extase'' (thanks to the generous support of the Eastern Arts Association and the artist herself) following her stay as artist in residence. This spurred the hope that the College might develop a permanent collection of 20th-century art by women, to inspire the female students who would live among it. In 1992,

Valerie Pearl Valerie Louise Pearl (née Bence; 31 December 1926 – 29 January 2016) was a British historian who was noted for her work on the English Civil War. She was the second President of New Hall, Cambridge. Life Pearl was the daughter of Cyril Bence, ...

, the President of New Hall, wrote to 100 of the leading women artists in Britain and received some 75 donations in return. The collection continues to acquire works by gifts and loans from artists and alumnae. It is the largest collection of art by women in Europe and about 95 per cent of it is displayed. On 7 March 2018, the New Hall Art Collection received accreditation from the

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 ...

which recognised the quality of the collection and the professionalism with which it was managed. Until April 2022, the Collection was known as the New Hall Art Collection in recognition of the College's name before 2008.

Collection

The collection includes works by: * Sandra Blow *

Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...

Tracey Emin Dame Tracey Karima Emin (; born 3 July 1963) is an English artist known for autobiographical and confessional artwork. She produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, Neon lighting, neon text ...

Mary Fedden Mary Fedden, (14 August 1915 – 22 June 2012) was a British artist. Early years Sometimes mistakenly described as the daughter of Roy Fedden (who was in fact her uncle, as was Romilly Fedden), Mary Fedden was born in Bristol where she a ...

Oona Grimes Oona Grimes (born 1957) is a British artist and visiting lecturer. Biography Daughter of the 58th Academy Awards, Academy Award winning English production designer and art director, Stephen B. Grimes and granddaughter of cartoonist Leslie Grim ...

Maggi Hambling Margaret J. Hambling (born 23 October 1945) is a British artist. Though principally a painter, her best-known public works are the sculptures '' A Conversation with Oscar Wilde'' and '' A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft'' in London, and the ...

Lubaina Himid Lubaina Himid (born 1954) is a British artist and curator. She is a professor of contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire.Susie Hamilton Susie Hamilton (born 10 August 1950) is an English artist. She lives and works in London and is represented by Paul Stolper Gallery. Early life and education Hamilton, born 10 August 1950, studied painting at St Martins School of Art and By ...

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 ...

Nicola Hicks Nicola Hicks (born 1960 in London) is an English sculptor, known for her works made using straw and plaster. Biography Hicks studied at the Chelsea School of Art from 1978 to 1982 and at the Royal College of Art from 1982 to 1985.Falconer, Morg ...

* Vanessa Jackson *

Lucy Jones Lucile M. Jones (born 1955) is an American seismologist and public voice for earthquake science and earthquake safety in California. One of the foremost and trusted public authorities on earthquakes, Jones is viewed by many in Southern Califor ...

Zelda Nolte Zelda Nolte (1929–2003) was a South African-British sculptor and woodblock printmaker. Education Zelda Nolte studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich under the directorship of Johannes Itten, which became Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, ...

Cornelia Parker Cornelia Ann Parker (born 14 July 1956) is an English visual artist, best known for her sculpture and installation art. Life and career Parker was born in 1956 in Cheshire, England. She studied at the Gloucestershire College of Art and Design ...

Emily Patrick Emily Patrick (born 4 October 1959) is a British figurative painter. Biography Patrick grew up on a sheep farm in Kent. She studied architecture at the Architectural Association and Cambridge University. She paints in oil and tempera on ge ...

Gwen Raverat Gwendolen Mary "Gwen" Raverat (née Darwin; 26 August 1885 – 11 February 1957), was an English wood engraver who was a founder member of the Society of Wood Engravers. Her memoir ''Period Piece'' was published in 1952. Biography Gwendolen Ma ...

Paula Rego Dame Maria Paula Figueiroa Rego (: 26 January 1935 – 8 June 2022) was a Portuguese visual artist, widely considered the pre-eminent woman artist of the late 20th and early 21st century, known particularly for her paintings and prints based o ...

Julia Sorrell Julia Sorrell (born 4 August 1955, in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex) is a British artist known for her portraits and imaginative drawings and paintings using figures and natural forms such as wood, shells, rock and plants using a range of media from pe ...

Wendy Taylor Wendy Ann Taylor (born Stamford, Lincolnshire, 1945) is an English artist and sculptor, specialising in permanent, site-specific commissions. According to her website, she 'was one of the first artists of her generation to “take art out of ...

Debate

In 2005,

's painting ''Gulf Women Prepare for War'' (1986) was covered on request of a US Navy officer as a condition of a private booking for the US military. The painting depicts a woman dressed in a hijab and armed with a rocket launcher. Hambling was reported to be appalled with its censorship. Students and tutors staged a peaceful protest during after-dinner speeches.

References

External links

The Women's Art Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Women's Art Collection New Hall, Cambridge Art museums and galleries in Cambridgeshire Women's museums in the United Kingdom Art collections in the United Kingdom

History

Collection

Debate

See also

References

External links