Modern Art Oxford

The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, now known as Modern Art Oxford, was founded by architect Trevor Green towards the end of 1965. Its principal aspiration was ‘the advancement of education of the general public in the modern visual arts’. The first exhibition included works by David Hockney and Patrick Heron. Within a year the gallery relocated to its permanent home in Pembroke Street using what was Halls Brewery. Artists were invited to exhibit from all over the world, particularly from outside Western Europe and North America. In 1973 the high profile local Bear Lane Gallery merged with the Museum of Modern Art and by the 1980’s MoMa, Oxford was pioneering exhibitions dedicated to artists working with film and video long before these media reached their existing levels of popularity. British artists who have exhibited there as well as the above icons include Peter Lanyon, Leon Kossoff, Bill Jacklin, Helen Chadwick, Lee Grandjean, Paul Neagu, Kim Lim and Ana Maria Pacheco. Artists who are not indigenous and who have shown at MoMa include Ed Ruscha, Gustav Metzger, Carl Andre, Yoko Ono, Sol Lewitt, Naum Gabo and photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson amongst many.