Hull University Art Collection

The Hull University Art Collection features 'Art in Britain from 1890 to 1940'. It is not limited solely to British art but contains work by foreign artists who worked in this country, such as Lucien Pissarro, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Théodore Roussel. The founder of the University, Thomas Robinson Ferens, bequeathed some money to encourage fine arts and it was decided to ‘build up a collection of minor works, attractive in themselves and historically and stylistically related: a collection which would have its own distinctive character’. This began in 1963 but unfortunately the initial budget for buying paintings was a meagre £200 a year, so the emphasis was on finding pictures that were cheap and perhaps unfashionable at the time. It was thus decided at as it was the 1960's, art from the 1890's-1940 would fit that bill as it was largely neglected by dealers and galleries.

The resulting collection concentrates mainly on figurative art with some examples of Surrealism and Abstraction present. Donations and bequests by artists and their relatives have resulted in some fine examples being acquired. These include works from the relatives of Roger Fry, sculptor Jacob Epstein and artist Louie Burrell. Other artists represented include Vanessa Bell, Dora Carrington, Mark Gertler, Eric Gill, Duncan Grant, Harold Gilman, Wyndham Lewis, William Rothenstein, Walter Sickert, Stanley Spencer and Christopher Wood.