The Yale Centre for British Art Goes On-line With a Major Assciated Exhibition

Written by Daniel Rhodes Monday, 13 June 2011 21:42

New Haven, CT.-  Earlier this year, the Yale Center for British Art, which houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside of the United Kingdom, made its extraordinary holdings available through a new online catalogue. The launch of the website was complemented by the exhibition "Connections". On view until September 11th, "Connections" mirrors the experience of the new online catalogue by drawing from across the Center’s extraordinary collections. "Connections" includes more than two hundred paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, rare books, and manuscripts that are installed on the third floor in ten thematic, period, and monographic bays ranging from the early seventeenth to the early twentieth century.

Subjects include 'British Art in the 1630s', 'Hogarth and History', 'Paul Sandby', 'Sporting Art', 'George Stubbs', 'Thomas Gainsborough', 'The Academy and the Body', 'Egypt', 'Samuel Palmer' and 'British Modernism in the 1930s'. As an example of cross-collection research, the bay devoted to George Stubbs (1724–1806) features examples of the artist’s paintings in oil on canvas, copper, and earthenware; Wedgwood plaques and enamels; a selection of his innovative prints and drawings; anatomical studies; and books and manuscripts on midwifery and anatomy. Additional major works by Stubbs can be seen in the permanent collection galleries, and secondary sources, such as books and articles devoted to all facets of Stubbs’ life and work, are available in the Reference Library. Together the works represent the depth and breadth of material available in the Center’s physical collections, which now will be available in a single, searchable catalogue.

The launch of the Center’s online catalogue dovetails with Yale University’s recently announced “Open Access” policy, which will make high-quality digital images of Yale’s vast cultural heritage collections in the public domain openly and freely available. “The new site provides the foundation for the Center’s ongoing commitment to the development of an online research environment for the history of British art, and offers broad, international public access to our magnificent collections for study and pleasure in the most open of ways,” says Amy Meyers, director of the Yale Center for British Art. “We are especially delighted that scholarly publication on our holdings will be enhanced by our policy to make high-quality digital images of all works in the public domain available free-of-charge—a policy that corresponds with that of the university at large. When our institution’s founder, Paul Mellon (Yale College Class of 1929), enabled all visitors to enjoy our collections and programs free-of-charge, in perpetuity, he set a precedent for the generosity of spirit that drives our current project.”

The Yale Center for British Art is a public art museum and research institute for the study of British art and culture. Presented to Yale University by Paul Mellon (Yale College, Class of 1929), the Center houses the largest collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. The collection of paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, rare books, and manuscripts reflects the development of British art and life from the Elizabethan period onward. Works on view include masterpieces by Joshua Reynolds, George Stubbs, Thomas Gainsborough, J. M. W. Turner, and John Constable, as well as major artists from Europe and America who lived and worked in Britain. The Center offers a year-round schedule of exhibitions and programs. Academic resources include the Reference Library and Archive, conservation laboratories, a study room for examining works on paper as well as rare books and manuscripts from the collection, and an online catalogue of the collections. An affiliated institution in London, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, awards grants and fellowships, publishes academic titles, and sponsors Yale’s first credit-granting undergraduate study abroad program, Yale in London. One of the Center’s greatest treasures is the building itself. Opened to the public in 1977, the Yale Center for British Art is the last building designed by the internationally acclaimed American architect Louis I. Kahn. The structure integrates the dual functions of study center and gallery, while providing an environment for works of art that is appropriately elegant and dignified. The building stands across the street from Kahn’s first major commission, the Yale University Art Gallery (1953). Visit the museum's website at ... http://britishart.yale.edu

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