The Women's Art Collection

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 (previously New Hall), England.

Naomi Press's Improvisation with the dome at Murray Edwards College behind
The Women's Art Collection Curator Harriet Loffler describing Monica Sjöö's Earth is our Mother

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. 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."[1]

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, the President of New Hall, wrote to 100 of the leading women artists in Britain and received some 75 donations in return.[2] 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.[3]

On 7 March 2018, the New Hall Art Collection received accreditation from the Arts Council England 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.[4]

Collection
Barbara Hepworth's Ascending Form (Gloria) at Murray Edwards College

The collection includes works by:

Debate
Gulf Women Prepare for War (far left) and other paintings hung over high table

In 2005, Maggi Hambling'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.[6] Hambling was reported to be appalled with its censorship. Students and tutors staged a peaceful protest during after-dinner speeches.[7]

See also

References
  1. "Aims and Strategic Objectives". Women's Art. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  2. "What's the point of a museum of art by women?" The Guardian (London). 28 July 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  3. Durrant, Nancy (30 May 2015). "New Hall: the Cambridge college with the feminist art collection". The Times. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  4. "University of Cambridge art collection changes name to promote women artists". BBC News. 9 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  5. "Oona Grimes". New Hall Art Collection. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  6. "My favourite painting: Dr Kate Pretty". Country Life. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  7. Pilger, Zoe (24 June 2005). "New Hall censors painting for US troops" (PDF). Varsity. Retrieved 12 April 2022.

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