For more than 60 years the British Council has been collecting works of art, craft and design to promote abroad the achievements of our artists, craft practitioners and designers. The collection, started in the late 1930s with a modest group of works on paper, has now grown to a collection of more than 8,000 works covering all media and all aspects of British art and design of the 20th and 21st centuries. The collection has no permanent gallery and has been referred to as a 'museum without walls'.
Photographs of the work in our Collection are available for use in catalogues or other material, usually supplied in digital form. Requests for such material and a copy of our schedule of fees should be addressed to arts@britishcouncil.org. We do not hold the copyright on works in our collection and permission must be obtained from the copyright holder. Copies of that permission must be submitted before any photographic material can be released.
The name of the copyright holder is given on the British Council Collection website.
Copyright for artists is handled by a number of organisations, the largest of which are: The Design and Copyright Society (DACS), the Bridgeman Art Library and the Tate.
Our acquisitions policy is geared towards our exhibition programme which is put together in collaboration with key partners, galleries and museums. The selection of works is made by a team of arts specialists through research around the UK by visiting museums, galleries, degree shows, artists' studios and other events. Final purchases are agreed by a panel comprising external curators, critics and artists. We do not buy speculatively.
We are happy to make works available for exhibition whether in the UK or elsewhere whenever possible. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee availability as many works are included in our own exhibitions or may already be on loan elsewhere. Requests should be addressed to:
Head of Collections
Visual Arts Department
Arts Group
British Council
10 Spring Gardens
London, SW1A 2BN
We ask that requests be submitted at least six months before the opening date of the exhibition and should be accompanied by an exhibition proposal and completed UK Registrars’ Group Facilities Report. We expect borrowers to meet all the insurance and transport costs involved, and this could include the costs of international freight.
As the collection has no permanent gallery or display it is not always possible to view works. The majority of the Collection is on show overseas at any one time, in exhibitions or displays. If you are interested in seeing specific works please address requests to the Head of Collections at arts@britishcouncil.org.
From April 2009, for a period of 16 months, there will be a series of exhibitions comprising of works from the British Council Collection at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. You can find out more details of the exhibitions on the Visual Arts web pages.
In line with all other National Art Collections, we do not accept donations other than from artists already included in the British Council Collection.
You can have a look at the British Council Collection website to see if we own any works by them. You could also look through our projects, exhibitions, and catalogues, but the best way to research an artist is on the internet, via search engines. You can then choose from a range of results.
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