Sainsbury Collection

Robert and Lisa Sainsbury members of the British grocery family have, for over most of their lives acquired sculpture, painting, drawing, prints, photographs and ceramics created by living artists. Large bodies of work by individual artists such as Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, Chaim Soutine, Francis Bacon and John Davies testify to the Sainsburys' lasting enthralment with the human figure. Although the collection includes works such as the 'Little Dancer' by Edgar Degas that date from the late 19th century, the majority of the collection dates from the 20th century and includes works by Jacob Epstein, Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani. In addition to drawings and sketches by Henry Moore, Epstein and Alberto Giacometti, the collection includes 24 works on paper by the Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida. The modern collection now comprises more than 700 works by over 200 artists. They donated their collection to the University of East Anglia in 1973 and the Sainsbury Centre first opened its doors to visitors five years later in 1978. It took architect Norman Foster those five years to design and oversee the design and construction of the modernist building within the university grounds.

The UEA Collection of Abstract and Constructivist Art, Architecture and Design was begun in 1968 with a modest capital grant from the University Council. Beginning from the viewpoint of 1960's kinetic art and multiples, they developed an interest in the non-objective and constructivist art movements of the 20th century, such as the English Vorticists, the Russian Suprematists and Constructivists, the Dutch De Stijl Group and the German Bauhaus School. This led them to consider not only sculpture, paintings and graphics but also aspects of design such as architectural models and furniture. The early works acquired included Bomberg’s drawing 'Study for Ju Jitsu', chairs by Gerrit Rietveld and Le Corbusier as well as prints by Richard Lohse, Joseph Albers and Victor Vasarely. Since then, the collection has grown to include over 400 works by artists who share a fascination with basic geometric shapes and bold primary colours.

Ceramics

Lisa Sainsbury’s collection of modern studio pottery commenced in the 1950's, when she and her husband bought work from the then-little-known Lucie Rie. Their friendship with Rie stimulated an interest in contemporary ceramics and led them to acquire a large body of work by Rie's friend and contemporary Hans Coper. Over the years the collection expanded and now includes pots by other world-renowned potters such as Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Janet Leach and James Tower as well as works by the pupils of Rie and Coper such as Ian Godfrey, Ewen Henderson and John Ward.