With over 1,900 paintings and 100 sculptures, The Yale Center for British Art houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. The collection of paintings‚ sculpture‚ drawings‚ prints‚ rare books‚ and manuscripts reflects the development of British art‚ life‚ and thought from the Elizabethan period onward.
The Yale Center for British Art. Photo by Sean Henri.
Opened in 1977, the Center is the last museum designed by the great American architect Louis Kahn. It stands across from Kahn’s first major commission, the Yale University Art Gallery. The building’s design, with its natural materials and sky lit galleries, provides a magnificent environment for viewing art. It has been regarded by some as one of Kahn’s finest structures, and was recently presented the Twenty Five Year award by the AIA for architecture of enduring significance.
The Center offers a year-round schedule of exhibitions and educational programs‚ including films‚ concerts‚ lectures‚ tours‚ and special events. Among the artists best represented are William Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, George Stubbs, Joseph Wright of Derby, John Constable, and J. M. W. Turner. The Center’s collection ranges from a late-fifteenth-century Nottingham alabaster to paintings and sculpture by such twentieth-century artists as Stanley Spencer, Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, and, most recently, Rachel Whiteread and Damien Hirst.
The Center’s collection of rare books and manuscripts features nearly 30,000 volumes, including maps, atlases, sporting books, and archival material of British artists. It also has some 1,300 leaves originating in illustrated incunabula.
It is the first museum in the United States to incorporate space for retail shops into its design. Be sure to check out the Museum Shop on the street level before you leave. It features a huge selection of books about British Art as well as sort of cool collectibles you’d find if you were in a tourist gift shop in the UK.
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Tags: All Ages, Architecture, Art, Art Galleries, Class Trips, Free, New Haven, New Haven County, Yale University
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