The Women’s Art Collection: The History of Collecting
One of four essays written as part of the research project 'Unlocking The Women's Art Collection' (2024).
The Women’s Art Collection (WAC) had its inception in the mid-1960s when 51 (then New Hall) relocated into a Brutalist building designed by the newly formed architectural firm Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon. Modern and contemporary art hung on its walls from the beginning. Many of these works – paintings by Walter Sickert, Ivon Hitchens, Thomas Sidney Cooper, and Peter Kinley – were on loan from the Fitzwilliam Museum and Arts Council Collection. The predominance of male artists felt at odds with the College’s mission to promote women.
Two decades later, the artist Mary Kelly undertook a residency at the College in collaboration with Kettle’s Yard (1985-86). Kelly is best known for her iconic work on the mother-child relationship, Post-Partum Document (1973-79), which provoked tabloid outrage when it was shown at London’s Institute of Contemporary Art in 1976. Born in America, she moved to London in 1968 at the peak of the student protests across Europe and became closely involved in the Women’s Liberation Movement.
While living at the College, Kelly was working on her major series “Interim”, which explored the theme of female middle-age. At the end of the residency, Kelly was commissioned to make another edition of a section of “Interim”. The resultant “Extase” was created especially for the College. The acquisition of Kelly’s work and the conversations she shared over dinner with Fellows at the College had a lasting effect. In 1991, a group of academics and staff started what they called an “artist appeal”, which would culminate in the creation of The WAC a year later.
The genesis of the collection was perhaps more practical than it was political. The first mention of the idea for its founding in The WAC archive is a letter from Christopher Stevenson, the College Bursar, to John Abbott, the Director of Development, dated 15 July 1991:
At the fork supper [a casual dinner party] Ann Jones – the girlfriend of our Research Fellow Ian Shaw, who has been extremely helpful in obtaining pictures for the College from the Arts Council Collection (South Bank Centre and Hayward Gallery) mentioned to me what appeared to be a good idea in relation to the Development Campaign.
She has undertaken to prepare a list of contemporary women artists (and those with feminist sympathies) and she suggested we write to them asking them to donate (or possibly severely discount) a work of art to be presented to New Hall as part of the Campaign.
As each piece arrives, or maybe with the receipt of a number of the pieces, we could arrange a ‘Friends’ or other reception and invite the press and media generally. Not only would the College obtain some works of art which would, hopefully, beautify it, it might also obtain one of two (Hepworth Moore??) that would appreciate greatly and at the same time it would provide a very satisfactory environment/background in which to obtain further publicity for the Campaign.
According to this letter, the art collection would have several purposes: beautification of the College, publicity for the fundraising campaign, and the acquisition of artworks – by either men or women (Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore) – that would accrue value and be a financial asset for the College.
Emboldened by the approval of the-then College Bursar Christopher Stevenson and College President, Dr Valerie Pearl, Ann Jones compiled the first list, which consisted of around twenty artists. Some of these artists were – and still are – very established in their careers: Eileen Agar (1899-1991), Eileen Cooper (b.1953), Elisabeth Frink (1930-93), Maggi Hambling (b.1945), and Paula Rego (1935-2022). Others were younger and less well-known: Susan Arrowsmith (b.1968), Kate Whiteford (b.1952), and Maria Chevska (b.1948).
The first tranche of letters was sent out in October 1991. Each followed a specific template. In the opening couple of paragraphs, the authors provided some background information about the College and fundraising campaign. The third paragraph contained the request – “I am writing to you, as a prominent woman artist, to ask whether you would be willing to donate a work to New Hall” – and explained the main purpose of the donation: “We feel strongly that women students should be able to study in a stimulating environment and to experience ideas outside their chosen area of study.” They concluded by describing Mary Kelly’s work being “an importance[sic.] source of discussion over the years”.
The vocabulary used in the letters is revealing. The word “stimulating” appears twice, alongside “ideas outside their chosen area of study” and “source of discussion”. Evidently this was not simply a beautification project, but a collection founded with the intention of inspiring, educating, instructing, and challenging those who encountered it.
Responses from artists soon followed. Maggi Hambling wrote: “Thank you for your letter re. donating a piece of work for New Hall…I would be delighted to do so and suggest you telephone me and arrange to come and see and choose something”, while Paula Rego replied: “I would be very pleased to give one of my prints to hang in New Hall. Please let me know if you could possibly have it collected from the above address”.
Within three months the College had received twenty-one donated artworks. Dr Valerie Pearl, Christopher Stevenson, and Ann Jones were encouraged by this enthusiasm and continued to send out letters. Subtle logic underpinned the selection process. Some artists came onto their radar through their association with local galleries. Judith Goddard (b.1956), Katharine Meynell (b.1954), and Monika Oechsler were selected because of the exhibition Abstract Still Life Portrait at Kettle’s Yard in 1992. Sylvia Melland (1906-93) and Nan Youngman (1906-95) were contacted through their inclusion in the exhibition 10 Decades: Careers of Ten Women Artists Born 1897-1906 at Norwich Gallery.
Several of the artists were alumnae of the College; for example, Emily Patrick (b.1959), Annabel Rathbone (1935-unknown), Harriet Macaree (b.1953), and Carola Gordon (b.1940). Emily Patrick replied to the letter saying: “I will always be indebted to New Hall for taking me in, thanks to your broad-minded admissions policy”.
The Collection also grew through personal relationships. When the young artist Maud Sulter (1960-2008) was asked to donate her work, she persuaded her then-partner Lubaina Himid (b.1954) to gift two of hers as well. In the late 1990s, Sulter also encouraged the ceramic artist Claudia Clare (b.1962) to donate her work.
Academics at the College recommended artists, and this invitation also extended to students in a newsletter sent by Christopher Stevenson: “The Pictures Committee, on which the JCR is represented, will soon be deciding where to hang these and other important works. If you have a view, please let your representative know. Likewise if you know of a woman artists [sic.] whose work you would like to see represented in College do let the Committee know.”
In March 1992 the Pictures Committee decided to hold an exhibition and event to inaugurate the Collection. Scheduled to take place in September that year, 20th century women’s art would coincide with the Cambridge University Alumni Weekend. By this time, the College had received over seventy donated art works. The archive documents a flurry of activity as the opening approached: artworks were collected and installed, labels were ordered, a catalogue and funding applications were written, publicity materials were printed, and an illustrious guest list was assembled. Featured artists were in attendance. Out of the artists already mentioned, Maggi Hambling, Maud Sulter, and Lubaina Himid, were all there, among others.
The feminist art historian Professor Griselda Pollock gave an opening address and drew out some of the attributes that made the Collection distinctive. She said:
The artists have agreed to come together and through their vibrant and powerful works form a permanent testimony to the very idea of a community of women. The artists and their works speak as much to each other as to us the onlookers. Hanging here together, they provide not a dumb spectacle but a model of a conversation.
The phrase “model of conversation” connects back to the idea of stimulation and education, and is an ethos that continues to this day.
The WAC is now the largest collection of art by women in Europe with over 600 works by around 400 artists. It offers a compelling counter-narrative to traditional models of collecting and curating: it was not amassed through the wealth of one sole individual but via the collective efforts of a large group of women (and men) working together. It is as much a community of women as a collection of art.
For much of its history, the Collection was open to all works created by women. In 2018, the Collection gained museum accreditation and, as a requirement of this, articulated a more focused acquisition policy concentrating on works that think critically about gender, inequality more broadly, and the history of art by women – themes that are as relevant now as they were when the Collection was first founded.
Bibliography
Guestbook for Women’s Art at New Hall, Opening 19 September 1992. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/6/2.
Hambling, Maggi. Letter to Dr Valerie Pearl [7 December 1991], GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/1.
Invitation to opening day of Kettle’s Yard exhibition, Abstract Still Life Portrait [14 March 1992].
Invitations for 19 September. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/3.
Jones, Ann. Handwritten list of artists. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/1.
Patrick, Emily. Letter to Dr Valerie Pearl [10 January 1992]. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/1.
Pearl, Valerie. Letter to Fay Godwin [31 October 1991]. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/1.
Proposal for art exhibition in September in Paper E, Council Papers [17 February 1992]. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/1.
Pollock, Griselda. “Reframing the Marked Page” in Women’s Art at New Hall catalogue, second edition (1996). 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/3/13.
Stevenson, Christopher. Letter to Director of Norwich Gallery [13 April 1992]. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/2.
Stevenson, Christopher. Letter to John Abbott [15 July 1991]. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/1.
Stevenson, Christopher. Note to Miss Melanie Barlow – for the Newsletter [24 January 1992]. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/1.
Sulter, Maud. Handwritten note about collection of works [29 July 1992]. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/4.
Rego, Paula. Letter to Dr Valerie Pearl [21 November 1991]. 51 (New Hall Archive), GBR/3124/NHAR 6/1/1/1.