Collection: University of Reading Art Collection

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The University of Reading’s approach to collecting artworks, as is common to many university art collections, has not historically been conducted as part of a formal acquisitions programme. The resulting art collections, often amassed under the aegis of individual departments, are an idiosyncratic mix of benefaction and intermittent acquisition and purchase initiatives.

  The most important of these initiatives involved the development of significant areas of the collection including:

  • The Betts Collection: a substantial amount of which were bought at auction and/or collected by Professor J. A. Betts in the 1950s and 1960s. This became a core teaching collection in the Department of Fine Art and was comprised of drawings by old and contemporary masters. Betts also acquired drawings for his personal collection, which makes up the remainder of the Betts Collection. These works were purchased by the University in 1994 from Betts’ son, Paul Betts.

  • The Historic Picture Loan Scheme (PLS): this was set up in c.1965 and ran until c.2013. The Scheme, which was administered by the Department of Fine Art, bought and collected artwork for display around the University. The individual departments would then pay a nominal fee to borrow specific works to enhance their buildings.

  The process of defining all university-owned art as a single collection under the central management of Museums and Collections, formerly University Museums and Special Collection Services (UMASCS) began in 2015 with the appointment of a University Art Curator. Before this appointment the individual collections had been predominantly managed by members of staff in the Department of Fine Art and the Department of History of Art (now closed).

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2025

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The University of Reading’s rich and eclectic art collection comprises around 1500 works of painting, sculpture and graphic art, including many pieces of national and international significance. The earliest works date to the 1600s, however most of the collection dates from the 1800s to the present day.

  The main art collections are made up of a series of distinct parts reflecting the history and development of the University. These include:

  • a variety of work commissioned, bought and given to the University. This includes past students and professors of the University, along with pieces by more prominent 20th century artists such as Alan Lowndes, John Randall Bratby, Leon Kossoff and Max Weber.
  • the Historic Picture Loan Scheme of paintings and works on paper collected by the Fine Art Department for loan to university patrons. The Scheme includes important examples of printmaking practice by artists such as Charles Tunnicliffe, Stanley Anderson and Lynn Chadwick.
  • the Betts Collection, which was collected by and associated with the University’s first Professor of Fine Art, Anthony Betts. This Collection comprises an important group of master drawings by artists including Peter Paul Rubens, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Spencer Frederick Gore and Walter Sickert.
  • the Minnie Jane Hardman Collection, which contains approximately 125 drawings and watercolours documenting the experience and practice of Minnie Jane Hardman (née Shubrook) during her time as a female student in the Royal Academy Schools during the late nineteenth century.

  Within the wider context of UK University Art Collections, the University of Reading holds distinguished collections of considerable strength, depth and variety.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2025

  Licence: CC BY-NC