The Collection began when the painter Sir William Rothenstein was appointed Principal of the College in 1920, but the major developments begin in the 1950s under the aegis of Robin Darwin. The tradition of adding paintings, drawings and prints by staff and graduating students continues, making it a vibrant and growing reflection of key moments in the development of 20th- and 21st-century British art.

In the early days of the Collection, Rothenstein contributed his own Self-Portrait, as well as acquiring Standing Male Nude by William Etty, followed by the works of Paul Nash (a member of staff at the time), Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious and John Piper (all students of the College in the 1920s).

The appointment of Robin Darwin as Principal in 1948 resulted in a radical shift in the direction of the Painting School, led first by Rodrigo Moynihan and later by Carel Weight. The concerns of the painters in that era were encapsulated in the ‘Kitchen-Sink School’ of work by artists including Edward Middleditch, John Bratby and Jack Smith. This in turn affected the profile of the Collection, which includes from this period Jack Smith’s Interior with Child, Auerbach’s Earl’s Court Building Site, Kossoff’s Untitled (Willesden Junction) and Richard Smith’s Yellow, Yellow.

Darwin himself contributed to the collection, and his gifts include Stanley Spencer’s The Wine Harvest and a drawing, Design for a Fan, by Camille Pissarro. Inspired by this generosity, Carel Weight and John Minton both contributed examples of their own work and succeeded in arranging for the addition of The Sandpit, Coldharbour by Lucien Pissarro. On his death, Minton bequeathed a number of works to the Collection, including Lucian Freud’s Portrait of John Minton.

Contributions to the Collection from the late 1950s and early 1960s reflect the influential position of the College in the development of Pop and Op Art. This era is represented by Peter Blake’s Children Reading Comics and Hockney’s I’m in the Mood for Love. Some works reflect curriculum-based set projects; these include Blake’s The Preparation for the Entry into Jerusalem and Patrick Caulfield’s Christ at Emmaus.

The mid 1960s to mid 1970s saw another shift in the philosophy of the Painting School, and consequently the nature of the works contributed. Of this era, works by John Bellany, Stephen Farthing, Graham Crowley, Andrezej Jackowski, Lucy Jones and Paul Storey are included.

More recent contributions to the Collection include work donated by graduating students Dinos Chapman, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, George Shaw, Chantal Joffe, Tim Stoner and Sophie von Hellerman.

The artists represented are of historical and contemporary interest, nationally and internationally, and the collection is a significant resource for those wishing to understand the development of British fine art since the 1950s.

Most of the works in the collection have been photographed digitally. Medium-resolution images are available – for non-commercial, learning, teaching and research projects only – from the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS). Higher resolution versions are often available to licence for projects. Please contact images@rca.ac.uk for more information.

Works are sometimes loaned to institutions for temporary exhibitions. These are granted at the discretion of the Custodians of the collection and are subject to the borrower’s acceptance of our Conditions of Loan. Among the requirements are the following:

1. A formal application for each loan must be made in writing at least six months in advance of the opening date of the exhibition. Applications should be emailed to images@rca.ac.uk, together with a scanned copy of the venue’s facilities report and confirmation that loans will be covered by insurance on a nail-to-nail basis. Loan requests without these supporting documents will be automatically declined.

2. All loan requests will be considered at the next scheduled committee meeting of the collection Custodians (usually monthly). For this reason, requests cannot be granted at short notice.

3. No request for a loan will receive final approval unless the College receives a signed copy of our Conditions of Loan from the prospective borrower.

4. Once the loan has been approved by the collection Custodians, and deemed fit for loan by conservators where appropriate, a flat administration fee of £150.00 + VAT per work per institution will be charged to the borrower. In addition, the borrower will reimburse the College for any conservation, framing and packing necessitated by the loan.

A full set of the Conditions of Loan, to be signed and returned once a request has been granted, is available for reference here (PDF). Please ensure you will be able to meet these requirements before making a request.