Art at Nuffield: An Introduction
Over the last sixty years Nuffield College has developed an outstanding collection of contemporary art. The collection was started with purchases that were mostly made on an ad hoc basis, but our strategy has become increasingly ambitious and long term.
The college made a commitment to contemporary art from the outset. In the 1950s it was agreed that a percentage of the construction costs should be spent on works of art. Fellows, including Sir Norman Chester and Ian Little, commissioned and bought paintings and sculpture, including the fountain by Hubert Dalwood, the Ivon Hitchens painting Late Summer Parkland with Lake in the Senior Common Room and the library mural of The Seasons by Greaves and Middleditch. There were donations of silver and several paintings. John Piper designed the chapel including the stained glass windows and most of the fittings.
By the mid 1960s a period of relative austerity had set in and little art was bought. David Butler, as chairman of the Art Committee, donated and himself framed political prints and arranged loans from the Ashmolean. He was notably successful in commissioning David Hockney to draw a portrait of Warden Chester. The college tradition of honouring its Wardens with a drawing has attracted a number of other distinguished artists to the college, including Maggi Hambling and, most recently, Dryden Goodwin.
Peter Randall Page, 'Flayed Stone IV'
Following the election of David Cox as Warden and the appointment of our first professional Bursar in the 1980s, there was renewed interest in displaying contemporary art in the main public rooms in the college. The sale of two fragile and never exhibited drawings by David Bomberg enabled purchases of original prints by Howard Hodgkin, Keith Vaughan, Bridget Riley and others and also a commission to Peter Randall Page for the sculpture Flayed Stone IV in the quad. Advice from the Contemporary Art Society, from successive directors of Modern Art Oxford (especially Andrew Nairne) and leading galleries in London has helped us to build up a more coherent collection of British contemporary art covering the last sixty years. Among our major purchases was Ian Davenport’s striking Magenta.
A number of members of the college have left an imprint on the collection. For example, in 1954 the first Nuffield students chose the still life by Patrick Heron for the JCR. In recent years several JCR art representatives have once again played an active role in the decision on purchases and re-hanging. The result is a display of original prints, photography and a LED box by significant artists. Several works reflect the college’s interest in political and social issues.
The allocation of part of the proceeds from the sale of two Indian paintings enabled the Art Committee to be particularly active in the period 2008-2010 with new acquisitions for the SCR, the FDR, the JCR, and the Tower Room which has been returned to its original design. Highlights included a special commission to Mark Francis for a large painting in the FDR, a set of brightly coloured Patrick Caulfield prints put in dialogue with the black-and-white design of the Tower Room, and a donation by the Onuch family of two photographs by Viktor Marushchenko. With the acquisition of works by Catherine Yass, Tom Hunter, David Moore and Mikhael Subotzky the college has begun to make a serious commitment to contemporary photography. As a new departure for the college, the remit is deliberately international and political, in contrast to the British theme of the rest of the collection.
In 2010 we agreed our first explicit collection policy in order to ensure that the collection is adequately maintained, displayed and extended. We aim to continue acquiring, by purchase or gift, high quality art in a range of media. We have also begun to publicise the collection within the college and the university. We have strengthened our collaboration with Modern Art Oxford, and with a number of London galleries. We are promoting engagement with the works in our collection through a series of events, including tours and conversations with artists.
Richard Mayou
Chairman of the Art Committee
Gwendolyn Sasse
Vice-Chair of the Art Committee