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Welcome to the British Council Collection - a 'Museum Without Walls', for everyone, everywhere
For over 60 years the British Council has been collecting works of art, craft and design to promote the achievements of British artists, craft practitioners and designers overseas. The Collection, started in the late 1930s with a modest group of works on paper, now includes more than 8,500 works covering all media and aspects of British art and design of the 20th and 21st Centuries. The Collection has no permanent gallery and has been referred to as a 'Museum Without Walls'.
Featured
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Get the Picture?
Ever wondered how artworks get from gallery to gallery? This training video was made to help British Council staff understand the complexities of the work of the Visual Arts Department.
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Edward Burra The Band 1934 watercolour
This watercolour by Burra is currently on display in 'Thresholds' an exhibition from the British Council Collection curated by Paula Rego at the Whitechapel Gallery
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Michael Craig-Martin: Picturing: Iron, Watch, Pliers, Safety Pin 1978
Click the arrow above to watch the artist installing his work at the Whitechapel Gallery, London for 'Passports - Great Early Buys from the British Council Collection', 5 April - 14 June 2009
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Anya Gallaccio: Preserve Beauty (New York) 2003
500 'Red Beauty' gerberas, glass and fittings. Learn more about the artist and her work.
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Robert Dawson: Doves 1996
27cm diameter print on bone china from the series 'Can you walk from the Garden? Does your heart understand?'
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Wood & Harrison: Table and Chairs 2001
This 26 minute video by the artists Wood & Harrison is on show in Syria as part of the British Council Collection exhibition 'Flicker - A Visual Intervention in the Cityscape of Damascus' from 26 March - 17 April 2009
Artists
Augustus John
John was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, the younger brother of the painter Gwen John. In 1894 he enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. According to an apocryphal story he was a quiet, methodical and by no means remarkable student, but during the summer holidays, John dived…
Themes
Landscape
Landscape is one of the principle genres of Western art. In early paintings the landscape was a backdrop for the composition, but in the late 17th Century the appreciation of nature for its own sake began with the French and Dutch painters (from whom the term derived). Their treatment of…
News
Winner of 'The Fifth Curator' is...
Theodor Ringborg, 26, from Stockholm, Sweden, is the winner of 'The Fifth Curator' competition, and will go on to curate an exhibition for the Whitechapel Gallery from 26 March-30 May 2010.
