Yale Center for British Art

Coordinates: 41°18′28.4″N 72°55′50.2″W / 41.307889°N 72.930611°W / 41.307889; -72.930611
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Yale Center for British Art
New Haven, Connecticut
Address1080 Chapel Street
Coordinates41°18′28.4″N 72°55′50.2″W / 41.307889°N 72.930611°W / 41.307889; -72.930611
Completed1974
Technical details
Structural systemConcrete frame
Design and construction
Architect(s)Louis Kahn
Other information
Public transit accessBus transport 237, 238, 241, 243, 246, 254, 255
Website
britishart.yale.edu

The Yale Center for British Art at

British art outside the United Kingdom.[2] The collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, rare books, and manuscripts reflects the development of British art and culture from the Elizabethan period
onward.

Creation

The center was established by a gift from

Louis I. Kahn and constructed at the corner of York and Chapel Streets in New Haven, across the street from one of Kahn's earliest buildings,[3] the Yale University Art Gallery, built in 1953. The Yale Center for British Art was completed after Kahn's death in 1974, and opened to the public on April 15, 1977. The exterior is made of matte steel and reflective glass; the interior is made of travertine marble, white oak, and Belgian linen. Kahn succeeded in creating intimate galleries where one can view objects in diffused natural light. He wanted to allow in as much daylight as possible, with artificial illumination used only on dark days or in the evening. The building's design, materials, and sky-lit rooms combine to provide an environment for the works of art that is simple and dignified.[4]

The center is affiliated with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in London, which awards grants and fellowships, publishes academic titles, and sponsors Yale's first credit-granting undergraduate study abroad program, Yale-in-London.[5]

Collection

The collection consists of nearly 2,000 paintings and 200 sculptures, with an emphasis on the period between

Robert Polhill Bevan, Stanley Spencer, Barbara Hepworth, and Ben Nicholson
.

Interior of the fourth floor
Fourth floor lobby

The collection also has works by artists from Europe and North America who lived and worked in Britain. These include

Johann Zoffany, John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and James McNeill Whistler
.

Some areas of emphasis of the collection are small group

Shakespearean
plays, and portraits of actors.

Sculptors represented include

Francis Chantrey, Jacob Epstein, and Henry Moore
.

The collection of 20,000 drawings and watercolors and 31,000 prints features British sporting art and figure drawings. It includes works by Hogarth,

Pre-Raphaelites
.

The center's collection of rare books and manuscripts comprises 35,000 volumes, including maps, atlases, sporting books, and archival material of British artists. It also has some 1,300 leaves originating in illustrated

incunabula
. The collection also includes a complete set of William Morris's Kelmscott Press publications as well as a growing collection of contemporary artists' books. The core of the collection of illustrated books is the material amassed by Major J. R. Abbey‚ one of the first collectors of British color-plate books, and includes more than 2‚000 volumes describing British life‚ customs‚ scenery‚ and travel during the period 1770–1860. The center's collection also contains a significant number of early maps and atlases.

The four-floor center offers a year-round schedule of exhibitions and educational programs, including films, concerts, lectures, tours, symposia, and family programs. It also provides numerous opportunities for scholarly research, including residential fellowships. Academic resources of the center include the reference library (40,000 volumes) and photo archive, conservation laboratories, and a study room for examining works on paper from the collection.

The center is open to the public free of charge six days a week, and is a member of the

North American Reciprocal Museums
program.

Gallery

  • The Peace embracing the Abundance, Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1632-1633
    The Peace embracing the Abundance, Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1632-1633
  • Lovers in a landscape, Petrus Johannes van Reysschoot, c. 1740
    Lovers in a landscape, Petrus Johannes van Reysschoot, c. 1740
  • The Gravenor Family, by Thomas Gainsborough, 1754
    The Gravenor Family, by Thomas Gainsborough, 1754
  • Mrs. Abington as Miss Prue in "Love for Love" by William Congreve, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1771
    Mrs. Abington as Miss Prue in "Love for Love" by William Congreve, by
    Sir Joshua Reynolds
    , 1771
  • A portrait of an Indian Premier Madhavrao Peshwa, an 18th-century Noble, Statesman, Premier
    A portrait of an Indian Premier
    Madhavrao Peshwa
    , an 18th-century Noble, Statesman, Premier

References

  1. ^ Yale Center for British Art: About, ARTINFO, 2008, retrieved 2008-07-30[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Yale Center for British Art". Google art and culture.
  3. ^ Wainwright, Oliver (11 April 2016). "Yale Center for British Art: deft incisions give Louis Kahn a masterful makeover". The Guardian.
  4. ^ Lesser, Wendy (28 April 2016). "Whispers of Louis Kahn's Vision at the Yale Center for British Art". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Yale Center for British art". The shops at Yale.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yale_Center_for_British_Art&oldid=1201119329"