Remarkable art

Sometime in 1992, two women sat down in Cambridge to write a list of 100 female artists.  Dr Valerie Pearl was president of New Hall (renamed Murray Edwards College in 2008) and Ann Jones (now curator of the Arts Council Collection) was connected to the college as the wife of a Fellow. Once their list had been compiled, they sent a letter to all 100 artists to ask for donations of works of art for a collection of women’s art.  Much to their delight, 75 of the 100 artists replied and, with the slimmest of funds, Dr Pearl and Ann Jones set about laying the foundations for what is now Europe’s foremost collection of women’s art and the second in the world .

As part of Open Cambridge, New Hall Collection art administrator, Sarah Greaves, is leading two free public tours of the collection on Friday 7 September. From its early beginnings, the Collection has developed to encompass more than 350 works, ranging from painting to sculpture.  The Collection is not a gallery; the work is spread around Murray Edwards, enriching the surroundings for all those who work there, opening windows on to real and imagined worlds.  The emphasis of the Collection is largely on the latter part of the 20th century up to the present day, with a particular strength rooted in the 1980s reflecting its origins.

To book a place on a tour of the New Hall Art Collection on Friday 7 September go to http://www.cam.ac.uk/opencambridge/ or phone 01223 766766.

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Image: Miriam Schapiro, Madness of Love, 1987
Credit: New Hall Art Collection

Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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